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Budget cutback puts crimp on summer school
By KENT FISCHER, Times Staff Writer LAND O'LAKES -- Pasco County school officials have warned students and parents for months that state budget problems will kill traditional summer school programs. They were right. On Tuesday, the School Board is expected to approve a drastically reduced slate of summer programs. The proposal is so scaled back, in fact, that the district is no longer calling it "summer school." The programs are now "extended school year services." Basically, only two groups of students will be offered help once school ends May 24: those who flunk the state's FCAT test and those with learning disabilities. And even that help is likely to be small. The district is proposing a mere 31/2-hour school day to run for 10 days in late June. Schools with large numbers of low-income children will likely offer more summer help using federal money, the district's proposal states. But those programs are likely to differ from school to school. The cuts are necessary as the state copes with a budget shortfall. The Legislature in December met in a special session that resulted in a $500-million cut to state's education budget. Pasco's share totaled $6.4-million. "With the financial crisis, hard decisions had to be made," the district's proposal states. Some summer programs for special education students will be clustered at certain schools to help keep costs down. Also, students of all ages will have to share buses. In the past, the district has made separate bus runs in an attempt to keep older and younger kids apart. Students who would have qualified for summer school in the past are are being urged to seek tutoring help now, rather than plan on summer school. And seniors who need to make up a lost credit to graduate will have to make up the class at night school.
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From today's Pasco Times |
