JACKSON TWP — Eric Gordon, Seneca Valley School Board vice president, on Monday night again called on the district’s teachers union to make concessions to help close a $4.8 million budget deficit.

Gordon last year made similar requests for teachers to take a pay freeze, a request that was rejected by the union.

Speaking at a board meeting, Gordon proposed that any money given back to the district by the union could be used to “buy back” teachers who were or are to be laid off because of budget cuts.

The board already has voted to cut 14 positions, 11 of them teachers, to balance the 2012-13 budget, which is proposed at $99.6 million. The board last year eliminated 16 full-time teaching positions.

According to Gordon, the budgetary process could be less painful if all sides came together to limit the amount of cuts to programs and jobs.

“Right now we have a three-legged stool,” he said. “We have the school administrators, who’re cutting programs and jobs. We have the taxpayers, who’ve been getting max tax increases.

“And then we have the teachers union, which has the ability to give us money back because their salaries and benefits make up a majority of our budget.”

Gordon also echoed the sentiments of other board members who said Monday that the school board cannot continue to cut jobs and programs in the future when the district’s financial prognosis looks even bleaker.

Those board members said they refuse to sacrifice the educational quality of the district by continually The only other options are taking tax increases to voter referendums and asking the teachers’ union for concessions, Gordon said.

“Take a look around is my message,” he said. “We’ve been taxing and cutting, and we still have to cut more. So yes, I understand that based on seniority some teachers might not care about cuts because they’re not at the bottom of the scale. But we simply can’t keep cutting.”

Gordon pointed out that the union has no obligation to give anything back to the district.

The teachers are in the first year of a five-year contract.

But that doesn’t mean the union couldn’t offer a good faith measure and help to secure programs and jobs that could be cut.

“The administration is doing everything they can, and the taxpayers are certainly doing everything they can,” he said. “Why aren’t we getting help from the teachers when they can look around and see we’re still cutting teachers and programs?”

Marcus Schlegel, a spokesman with the Pennsylvania State Educators Association, said Tuesday that Seneca’s teachers union already met to discuss Gordon’s remarks but wouldn’t offer details.

“As a democratic organization, any decision will be made by the membership in total,” he said. “We do have a meeting (Tuesday), and I expect we will be discussing the financial state of the district.”