Teacher urges board to reallocate staff so West Side middle schools can offer more electives

Dr. Judith Neugebauer, a science teacher at Northwest Middle School, told the Salt Lake City School District Board of Education that staffing formulas based strictly on enrollment leave West Side schools with fewer electives because those schools must allocate more teachers to English-language development and reading intervention. "Staffing must reflect student need, not just headcount," Neugebauer said, urging the board to increase teacher staffing for electives on the West Side.

Neugebauer said Hillside and Clayton middle schools can offer more electives because they have fewer students requiring intervention, while Northwest, Bryant and Glendale spend a larger share of staffing on essential services that enable students to access core curriculum. She cited specific program counts, saying Northwest has two full-time equivalents for English-language development and reading intervention, while Hillside offers no reading intervention and Clayton offers six periods of reading.

District staff responding in the meeting said discretionary per-student at-risk and ELL allocations can be used by schools to hire additional paraprofessionals or teachers, but cautioned that those funds are limited and tied to state counts and enrollment projections. Bea Keirsey, presenting budget allocations, noted the district is being conservative in projections because state counts will be finalized later in the year.

The board did not take action during public comment; staff said they could follow up with schools and leadership to explore options. Board members asked for additional data and suggested using the district's 0-based budgeting exercise to highlight school priorities. The board will receive further budget and enrollment updates as projections are finalized.