The Jefferson County Board of Education has rescinded its previous vote to cut more than 160 jobs and make numerous other cutbacks, after receiving a task force report that says savings can be achieved without job losses.

The vote came after the seven-member task force handed over its findings in a presentation Wednesday morning to the board by Mike Miles, the force’s chairman and the treasurer for Jefferson County government.

The report recommends that JefCoEd do away with the job cuts that were approved weeks ago, which would have resulted in a net loss of 162 jobs — 227 current employees laid off, with 65 new positions at lower pay levels.

In essence, Miles said that his group agreed with all of the cost savings in Pouncey’s plan, except for those that resulted in job losses.

Miles noted in his opening remarks that morale of the system’s employees was of significance to the task force. “Many of us feel that it is unduly painful to balance our budget on the backs of some of our lowest-paid employees,” he said.

The proposals by the task force would result in a savings of almost $9 million per year. Measured against the $10 million that the system has spent above its revenues, the task force’s proposals “get us 90 percent of the way there,” Miles said.

The system would also get some help from the legislation that authorizes the refinancing of warrants issued to finance the building of several new schools, including Mortimer Jordan, Gardendale and Corner high schools. That bill, which was approved by the State House of Representatives on Tuesday, would give JefCoEd somewhere around $2 million in additional revenue each year. The bill is now in the State Senate awaiting a vote.

“I would hope that money would be used as a cushion,” Miles said.

Pouncey had sought the cost reductions in an effort to put the system’s operating reserves back to two full months of expenses or more, a figure JefCoEd has historically met or exceeded, and which is well above the state-mandated one-month minimum.

Miles said that his group had seven questions remaining about the current plan:

• How increases in JefCoEd’s unemployment insurance, as a result of benefits paid to those losing jobs, would affect any cost savings

• How those losing jobs are broken down by race, gender and age — and whether layoffs would affect a disproportionate number of those older than 40, which might run afoul of federal age-discrimination regulations

• Whether or not the job cuts are a true “reduction in force,” as legally defined, or just a budget downsizing

• What effects the state’s Students First Act might have on job cuts

• How the projected savings might be reduced if legal costs increase significantly from lawsuits filed by laid-off employees

• What are more specific numbers of people affected by the cuts, given the leeway Pouncey was given to make certain personnel decisions to accomodate unusual circumstances

Pouncey said the task force proposals merit further attention, but much of the system’s efforts to improve the financial picture has to do with outside forces.

“Decisions that this board has to make … would only begin to start the recovery process 18 months from now,” he said. “That’s not even taking into account the uncertainty in terms of the level of state funding they are to receive for next year. That’s really still up in the air, particularly with the lack of effort in Montgomery to embrace additional tax measures that would solve the General Fund’s problems.”

Board President Dean Taylor praised Miles’ group for their lengthy efforts.

“The task force put in a lot of hours on this. I’ve talked to them, and Dr. Pouncey has, at late hours and early mornings,” Taylor said. “I believe this is going to be a process, and we have to keep one thing in mond — we have students involved here. It’s easy to get wrapped up in dollars and cents, but at the end of the day those dollars and cents go to the classroom.”

Among the task force proposals is a return of some positions, such as school office coordinators and some assistant principals, back to their current positions and annual employment lengths — 12 months in most cases — but when those positions come open again at a later date through attrition, replace them with lower-paying or 10-month positions.

Miles said the task force also wanted to keep Pouncey’s original financial goals, but achieve them over a three-year period instead of just one.

“That was the crux of what we felt — keep the morale up, keep the talent level high, and everybody’s a winner,” Miles said.

Most of those who were to lose their jobs have already received notice from JefCoEd, and some were in the process of applying for the new positions that would replace some of those that were cut.

After Miles’ presentation, Board Member Dr. Martha Bouyer immediately moved that the board’s previous approval be rescinded, and amended to incorporate facets of the task force’s changes. Bouyer was allowed to make the motion to reverse the previous vote, as she was one of the three members who voted in its favor originally.

(Those who vote on the prevailing side of a measure may later request a vote to reverse, according to Robert’s Rules of Order, the 139-year-old book which sets out parliamentary rules and procedures for virtually every deliberative body in the United States. But in case those rules do not apply to Bouyer’s motion, JefCoEd attorney Carl Johnson said he would seek an expedited opinion on the matter from Alabama Attorney General Luther Strange.)

The board voted 4-0 to rescind, with Oscar Mann joining in; he had originally voted for the Pouncey plan as well as Bouyer. (Vice President Jennifer Parsons was absent.)

The quick turnaround caught many stakeholders by surprise, including task force members Marianne Hayward and Tracee Binion. Hayward heads JefCoEd’s American Federation of Teachers local, and Binion is a local director for the Alabama Education Association; the two groups represent a majority of JefCoEd employees.

“I was very surprised the board acted so quickly,” a smiling Hayward said.

Wednesday’s meeting drew attention from several officials of cities in the JefCoEd service area, including Pinson and Fultondale.

“What they’ve just taken on here is a little unorthodox but not completely unheard of, and I think it’s appropriate they review all the financial abilities of the board for our students,” said Joe Cochran, a Pinson City Council member and head of the Pinson Education Foundation.

Miles asked for, and received, additional time to peruse more data from JefCoEd that could lead to further cost savings. Those proposals will likely be presented at the board’s committee meetings on Tuesday.

The board also meets Thursday at 10 a.m., in its annual state-required budget meeting.