The budget crunch drags on as schools face millions more in cuts under the proposed state budget.
By THOMAS C. TOBIN
Published June 4, 2003
LARGO - Barring a dramatic twist of fate in the Legislature's upcoming special session, Pinellas County's 8,000 public school teachers face the prospect of no raises for the first time in years.
That was the message Tuesday as school officials assessed the damage from a state budget that has forced districts across Florida to make the deepest cuts in a decade.
District administrators told the School Board they may have to cut an additional $12.5-million to balance the 2003-04 budget - on top of the $24.2-million they cut a month ago.
Part of the shortfall - about $3.5-million - can be made up by savings from staff reductions in the current budget year, which expires June 30.
But that leaves $9-million more in cuts, administrators said. As it happens, the biggest single nonessential item remaining in the budget is the $8-million the district budgeted for a 2 percent teacher raise.
If raises are eliminated, it would be the first time in at least three decades that Pinellas teachers have gone without a pay increase, said Jade Moore, executive director of the Pinellas Classroom Teachers Association, a post he has held for 29 years.
Bleak as the budget picture appeared Tuesday, Moore said it is part of an annual dance between administrators and the union.
"What they never tell the board is they've actually kind of planned for this," Moore said of superintendent Howard Hinesley and his budget staff.
Extra money for teacher raises is "all over the place," he said, citing a $21-million contingency fund set aside for the added costs of the school choice plan plus a merit pay plan that had relatively few takers.
"The district hides money in places, as they should; I find it, as I should," Moore said, describing the ritual.
He added: "The administration is accurately portraying where things are today. They are very hesitant to forecast tomorrow . . . We all know where it's hidden, but we're not sure we want to spend it all right away."
Despite those subtle digs at the administrators who sit across the bargaining table, Moore blames the district's fiscal woes on the Legislature, which failed to pass a budget during its regular session. Finally approving a budget in a session that ended last week has left districts planning "on the fly," he said.
Normally, he said, teachers would go home for the summer knowing what to expect in salary when the school year starts.
The problem, according to Pinellas officials, is that the Legislature allotted too little extra money to cover inflation, pay the increased costs of the choice plan and meet the requirements of the class size amendment.
Gov. Jeb Bush and House Speaker Johnnie Byrd have countered that the budget meets the desire of most Florida voters to decrease class sizes while also keeping a lid on taxes.
District officials argue that the voters clearly wanted the Legislature to find extra money to implement the class size amendment and not burden local districts.
Pinellas will get an estimated $25.3-million in new money from the state for the new fiscal year. But 83 percent of it is expected to cover the costs of implementing the class size amendment.
Still, the numbers are in flux. Pinellas officials won't know until later this summer exactly how much the state will require them to spend on reducing class size by a district average of two students per class. And Pinellas won't know until October whether it actually met the state's targets, Hinesley said.
In addition, Hinesley told the board that the $3.5-million in savings from the current budget could be even greater, improving the outlook.
The district is looking to the upcoming special session, June 16-19, for help. Officials say the Legislature did not focus on a simple measure that would give them an extra $5-million next year. The measure would allow districts to use construction money to cover the cost of dramatic increases in insurance premiums on buildings.
The special session was called to deal with medical malpractice insurance. Other issues such as education funding could be added, but that would require a two-thirds vote by both chambers or an okay from the governor.
Also, Moore said he's counting on legislators taking up the issue of $1-billion in federal payments meant to help the state out of the budget crunch. The money, which also went to other states, was part of the tax cut bill signed by President George W. Bush last week.
Gov. Bush wants to let it earn interest until next year, when Florida's fiscal crisis is expected to get worse. But Moore, echoing some legislators, said the money should be spent now to ward off budget cuts.
Pinellas's share of the $1-billion, he estimated, would come to about $15-million.
"We will piece it all together," Moore said of the Pinellas budget. "But the key thing is to get the big bucks."
