By David Vitrano

L’Observateur

LAPLACE – St. John the Baptist Parish Public Schools administrators and the parish’s teachers’ union are still working at hammering out an agreement that will enable the system to balance its budget while simultaneously preventing the need for a reduction in force among union members.

The two sides met Wednesday and reviewed the proposed memo of understanding, according to Superintendent Courtney Millet.

“We just more or less swapped ideas,” said union President Carolyn Batiste.

Another meeting was scheduled for Thursday at 3:30 p.m., but the St. John Association of Educators cancelled, said Millet.

Batiste said the meeting was cancelled so the union could have a chance to discuss the matter with its attorney. She said she hopes to reschedule the meeting for sometime next week.

Batiste said she is hopeful the matter can be resolved quickly.

“It’s so close to school,” she said.

An agreement must be reached before the school system can present a balanced budget for the 2010-11 fiscal year. Although the School Board’s policy is to have a budget in place by July 1, the state does not require one until September.

The administration originally presented the School Board with a budget plan at the June 17 meeting. That budget called for the elimination of dozens of non-classroom positions, and the board voted to table the matter. At that same meeting, board members were presented with a plan from the union they said would balance the books and save the jobs that would have been lost under the original plan. Among the ideas presented in that plan was a mandate for all school personnel to take four unpaid furlough days during the 2010-11 year. Batiste said the move would save the district about $1 million.