Employees Favor Furlough to Save Positions
Durham Public Schools employees were recently asked to complete a survey through which they provided input regarding what types, if any, of salary reductions they would favor in order to reduce the number of job eliminations for the 2010-11 school year.
The survey was completed as a part of the Board of Education’s discussion of potential budget cuts. Since the survey was administered, DPS legal counsel has advised that local school districts cannot furlough staff so other avenues of cuts will need to be made.
Employees were asked if they would favor a 2-day furlough, a 5 percent permanent salary reduction or a 7 percent permanent salary reduction. They also had the option of selecting no reductions whatsoever.
There were 2,880 DPS employees who completed the survey – approximately two-thirds of the entire DPS staff.
Of those surveyed, nearly 73 percent favored a 2-day furlough to save 32 positions.
Approximately 5.5 percent favored a permanent salary reduction of some kind. There were 3.68 percent of the total pool of those surveyed who favored a 5 percent permanent reduction, while 1.84 percent opted for a 7 percent permanent reduction.
This leaves approximately 21.6 percent of those surveyed who opted for no reductions of any kind.
