Parents filed into Monday night's Austin School Board meeting, protesting next year's elementary school cuts.

Jim Heimark and Tom Brown spoke on behalf of the Parent-Teacher Council as members of the board and Superintendent Corrine Johnson were given petitions with 1,125 signatures, asking the board to consider reinstating the specialist positions cut at the May 8 meeting.

The cuts, aimed to off-set an estimated $247,000 less in state aid next year, came mainly in teaching staff reductions. Only 2.8 positions district-wide were eliminated, but a reorganization at the elementary school level means additional fourth and fifth grade classroom teachers will take the place of some specialists in art, music, reading and computers. The fourth and fifth grade classrooms were almost at capacity this year, and next year promises to be the same.

Heimark asked the board to look at other areas to save money that are "less damaging to students' academic development in our district."

He stated figures that showed that 75.4 percent of the cuts were teaching positions, 14.7 percent were administrative positions and 9.9 were miscellaneous.

He said the 75 percent figure "seems grossly disproportionate compared to the other areas."

Brown presented the council's findings of a 25-district staffing comparison.

He said from the 1997-98 school year to the 2001-02 school year, all 25 Minnesota school districts compared kept administrative positions at 6 percent of teaching positions. Cuts or gains to administration paralleled cuts or gains to teaching staff.

Over the same period, he said, the Austin School District increased administrative positions from 11 to 17 and cut licensed teaching positions from 240 to 211.

He named four positions that could be cut in place of teachers: curriculum advisor, assistant football coach, director of finance and operations and the secretary to the football coach/activities director.

He then asked for a recall vote from the board of their May 8 position cuts.

Board member David Simonson asked how they got the number 211 for licensed teachers. The study did not include special education teachers, and Simonson said those teachers should be added in.

Members in the audience said the other district's numbers did not include special education teachers either.

Board member Bruce Loveland said the board was voting for unrequested leaves of absence for specific people at the May 8 meeting, and board members did not know those cuts represented changes to programs.

"In my opinion, I don't feel there was actually any vote taken (on program changes)," he said.

Board members Larry Andersen and Simonson agreed. Simonson said to prioritize smaller class sizes, the administration had to change things around.

"They had a plan in mind about how they were going to readjust," he said.

Andersen said state and federal standards force schools to focus more on the classroom.

"I don't like tests dictating the curriculum, but at this point, that's the way the game's played," he said.

Board member Richard Lees said making those decisions is the job of the administrators.

"The board did not come up with these decisions … We are not going to debate each principle that runs a building," he said.

Board member Bev Nordby said the curriculum advisor position has already been combined with the high potential advisor, and they can not spread out duties any more.

She said the board's job is difficult, and if anyone in the audience does not like the way things are run, they can apply for one of the four spots opening up next fall.

A number of members of the crowd then shouted that they would do so.

Matt Merritt can be reached at 434-2214 or by email at matt.merritt@austindailyherald.com