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Board cuts $19-million from next year's budget

At least 140 jobs will go away and dozens of teachers working on special tasks will return to classrooms.

By THOMAS C. TOBIN
Published April 3, 2006

LARGO - Ending weeks of debate, the Pinellas School Board on Monday voted to cut about $19-million from next year's budget.

The package will trim the district's workforce by at least 140 jobs, send dozens of teachers working on special tasks back into regular classrooms next year and cut corners in a number of departments.

District officials say it also will position Pinellas schools to better meet expenses and rebuild reserves in the face of declining enrollment, underfunding by the Legislature and increased costs for insurance, salaries and benefits.

"We have a slimmed-down district, we will live within our means and we will go forward now on a strong financial footing," school superintendent Clayton Wilcox said after the board's vote. "This was tough and it was hard. But I think, ultimately, we're in a better position to serve kids."

Unlike other counties in the region, Pinellas suffers from what Wilcox referred to Monday as a "perfect storm" of drags on its budget.

Enrollment has dropped the past five years by about 4,000 students, in part because the county is built out. That translates to less money from the state because Florida's school funding formula is based in large part on growth.

Another factor is the school choice plan, a uniquely Pinellas feature that sprang from settlement negotiations in a decades-old federal desegregation case. The choice plan aims to effect voluntary desegregation by encouraging students to attend schools outside their neighborhoods, but the cost has been enormous, almost doubling from original estimates to about $45-million this year.

In addition, Wilcox said, the state's allotments have not kept pace with basic expenses. Last year, he said, Pinellas received a $36-million increase over the previous year. But $22-million of it went to fund smaller class sizes mandated by voters. That left $14-million for everything else in a year when salary increases and benefits came to $17-million. That did not include a $5-million increase in energy costs and another $5-million in casualty insurance, he said.

A succession of years like that have eroded the district's reserves to less than 1 percent of its budget, a level that financial experts say is dangerously low. Monday's budget cuts will allow the district to bring reserves up to the more acceptable level of 3 percent, officials say.

The job cuts could have been worse. Leaders of the union representing support employees lobbied hard to limit the impact of the cuts and took pleasure that their efforts bore fruit after weeks of debate in which the school board concentrated almost solely on the budget.

Leaders of the Support Employees International Union noted that about 40 of the group's members will lose their jobs compared to the 160 jobs that Wilcox initially listed as potential cuts.

District officials and union members were scheduled to meet today to find out which employees will be affected. Dozens of non-union employees will be affected as well.

Many of the affected workers will be offered other employment in the school system. For those who aren't, district officials say they are working with neighboring school districts and a number of local companies, non-profit groups and public agencies to place them in jobs.

[Last modified April 3, 2006, 21:40:04]