The AISD of a Thousand Cuts

Chief Human Capital Officer Michael Houser explains to the press why the district wants to cut 1,017 jobs (Photo by Richard Whittaker)

When Austin ISD rings reporters at 4pm on a Friday, calling a press conference for 4.30, it's never good news. This time, it was to say that Superintendent Meria Carstarphen will ask the trustees to cut 1,017 jobs.

What's raising real eyebrows is not just how big that number is, but how the announcement came, and where the district's CEO was when it was made.

The press corps piled into the board room to hear the bad news from Chief Human Capital Officer Michael Houser. On this coming Monday, during the work session in which the Facilities Master Plan task Force will present their first draft, Carstarphen will ask the board to authorize a reduction in force for this coming academic year.

Reduction in force (or RIF) is the colorless corporate HR term for showing people the door and not filling their old posts. In this case, it's about 8% of the district's total staff. The final vote for both is scheduled for Feb. 28.

Here are the headline numbers:

These numbers include the 485 staff already cut under the new staffing formulas. However, if approved by the board at their Feb. 28 meeting, this request would more than double that number.

It was pretty grim reading, but the big question was, where in the world was Meria Carstarphen?

Turned out, she was in New York, talking to potential grant donors. However, this did not deflate the elephant in the room that a major request – one that will leave people jobless – was being dumped on the press corps just as everyone is heading out for the weekend. And it was being done by someone other than the superintendent.

There had been some unconfirmed rumblings that some cuts were coming, but before a letter was sent this morning to district staff this morning, no-one knew the scale. City staff, who are contemplating ways they can help the district find savings, had heard that it would be closer to 500, as had the board (members of which did not know Carstarphen was making the announcement or that she was out of town.) The board only got their file containing her request for the Monday discussion last night, so it is unclear how many knew her latest numbers.

Just as significantly, staff at Education Austin said they were completely blindsided both by the scale of the cuts and the nature of the announcement. Union co-president Rae Nwosu only found out about the press conference when the press told her.