A school workers union wants to intervene in Jordan School District's plan to eliminate its police department.
Jordan police were never allowed to weigh in on the "benefits and cost effectiveness of a district police department," Utah School Employees Association executive director Mike Hepner said.
He is asking the school board to revisit its proposal to save $600,000 by letting go the department's 18 officers and dispatchers.
"The whole thing comes as a shock and a surprise to us," Hepner said. "We're really concerned about it. . . . We can't understand why the district would risk the safety of students to save 1.2 percent of their budget."
The issue stems from the district's $519.3 million budget proposal, released this week.
The budget represents a 1.6 percent increase in spending over last year. But that's due to attempts to balance rising costs with basically flat revenues, said Burke Jolley, deputy superintendent over business services, who drafted the budget.
For example, the district is looking at about $1.6 million in additional state funds for per-student spending, plus extra cash to cover retirement costs, Jolley said.
But it will take a 41 percent cut — worth $1.3 million — in federal Title I money for schools in low-income areas, Jolley said. Title I money goes to hire reading specialists and extra teachers to keep class sizes down, among other personnel. With the cut, 25 to 30 people could lose their jobs or be reassigned, depending on board deliberations.
The district also is losing $1.7 million in state teacher-training funds, meaning teachers will lose two days' pay from last year under the cuts.
The district will, however, fund teachers' pay scale "steps." But it had to nip and tuck elsewhere to do it.
For instance, the district spends about $800,000 a year on the department. Eliminating it, and possibly looking to a private security firm and local police departments to keep buildings safe at night — which was Jordan police's primary responsibility — would save the district $600,000. The district will wait until the budget is approved before searching for a security firm.
"This was a very difficult decision because of tough economic times, and this was one of the areas the board felt they could save some money," Jolley said. "Having a police department has been a nice thing to have . . . (but) we've had other municipalities tell us it's a duplication of services."
The school board discussed eliminating the police department behind closed doors as a negotiations item, which is allowed by law.
But Hepner says the police department should have been part of the dialogue. He hopes to sit down with administrators to talk about the matter.
"It's been alarming to us things have been handled so secretively," he said.
The school board is meeting in a Monday afternoon study session to discuss the budget, Jolley said. The police department issue could be reopened.
The board will vote on the budget June 10.
E-mail: jtcook@desnews.com