ROBERTSDALE, Ala. — It’s a little like a bad science fiction movie. On Sept. 30, 2009, about 200 employees of the Baldwin County School System will vanish.

“These are all probationary, non-classified employees,” said John Hudson, the Alabama Education Association Uniserv Director for the district. The AEA represents about 2,500 numbers in the Baldwin County school district and at Faulkner State Community College. nurses, cafeteria workers, teacher aids, P.E. aids. computer aids, mechanics, mechanics, bookkeepers, secretaries, clerks, custodians, grounds workers, and bus drivers will be trimmed.

According to Terry Wilhite, a spokesperson for the Baldwin County Board of Education, the cuts will save around $7 million.

“I don’t expect a reduction in force with teachers,” said Hudson. “Even a non-tenured teacher has a contract.”

While teachers are spared, the cuts, Hudson believes, the cuts will have a “dramatic impact” on schoolchildren in the county.

“There will be fewer custodians,” said Hudson. “The schools will not be as clean.” He wondered about cutting school nurses at a time when it looks like the H1N1 influenza is now a pandemic.

The cuts, while not immediately affecting classrooms, will have an impact on students.

“If you don’t have PE aides with the elementary teachers, I can see children getting hurt,” said Hudson. He added that lunches might be difficult for youngsters without cafeteria workers and voiced concern that “school buses might be overloaded” with drivers cut.

While difficult to deal with, the layoffs will not affect student safety, Wilhite says. “Where support workers are considered, the priority has been on those positions directly tied to the life, health and safety of students and employees. We still expect to have a safe and healthy environment for students and workers, although that will require much more work to be shouldered by a lot less people,” Wilhite said in an e-mail.  

Hudson says that losing the “support” positions will also affect communication with parents.

“These positions are very important to the school,” said Hudson. “They have ‘ownership’ and know the parents. They are the eyes and ears of the building,” said Hudson.

Both men agree that the cuts will be difficult for the system to absorb. Wilhite called the cuts “catastrophic and devastating”

And Wilhite says that steps have been taken to trim the budget before touching positions directly affecting students: “Central Operations budgets (transportation, human resources, business and finance, student services, instructional support, communications, maintenance and operations budgets) have been cut by half most recently to balance the budget. Prior, millions of dollars had been eliminated from these categories and more than 35 people eliminated from the central office. We closed two schools (Vaughn near Stockton and the Alternative School in Fairhope).”

Both also agree that the way local schools are funded has to change.

“Taxes are unpopular,” said Hudson. “But we need to fund schools with an ad valorem property tax.”

“Funding for education in Alabama will not be stable until it shifts from being supported by sales tax and is ultimately founded upon property tax — a much more reliable and stable source of income,” said Wilhite.