Fill out this form to email this article to a friend
Schools
Pinellas schools freeze hiring, travel
Department heads must submit budgets with 2 percent cuts.
By DONNA WINCHESTER
Published July 13, 2007
Hiring has been frozen, traveling and training will be curtailed, and programs could be eliminated as Pinellas County schools brace for as much as a 4 percent cut in state school funding. Superintendent Clayton Wilcox informed School Board members late Wednesday that the district "has every intention of returning to normal practice" as soon as possible. But he acknowledged that in addition to a hiring freeze on all "non-essential" personnel, schools and department heads must submit budget reduction recommendations of no less than 2 percent within a week. Additionally, employee overtime and compensatory time will be prohibited unless approved by high-level administrators and district travel and training budgets that are not already approved have been frozen. In a tersely worded statement released Thursday, Wilcox said that "the only individuals who can actively be interviewed, offered employment and/or placed are classroom teachers who are counted in our class-size reduction calculations." News of the hiring, travel and training freeze likely will hit district employees especially hard coming on the heels of Monday's announcement regarding the possible closure of 10 Pinellas schools due to declining enrollment, said Kim Black, president of the Pinellas County Classroom Teachers Association. "Young families can't afford to live in our district, and that includes young teachers," Black said. "But we need to reassure employees that we will not jump the gun. We will allow every party to be part of the discussion, both with this and with school closings." Pinellas' response to the proposed state funding cuts came a day after Deputy Education Commissioner Linda Champion told superintendents that all school districts should brace for a 4 percent loss, perhaps as soon as a September special legislative session. Champion's call ended weeks of speculation regarding how cuts in state revenue of more than $1-billion would affect school budgets.
[Last modified July 13, 2007, 01:41:08]
Share your thoughts on this story
Comments on this article
|
by MK
|
07/13/07 11:10 PM
|
|
Maybe some of you should have had better reading teachers. The article clearly states that the freeze is NOT on classroom teachers. The freeze can't "weed" out teachers that are already employed! Try subbing for a day & see what it's like!
|
|
by Susan
|
07/13/07 05:10 PM
|
|
Why doesn't this surprise me? Oh that's right, I live in Florida.
|
|
by Dab
|
07/13/07 04:20 PM
|
|
This freeze is par for the course. As soon as economy slows, schools are cut, because of our funding process tied to Sales tax. Then the state says they're going to cut prop. taxes & reduce our costs, which we never see. What's wrong w this picture?
|
|
by Justthinking
|
07/13/07 04:14 PM
|
|
Am I reading "Sue" right? She wants teachers and students to work in 80 degree classroom with 40 kids per teacher? Absurd! Don't even try to compare what school was like when you were a child to what it is now! Too many crack/pot/heroin kids!
|
|
by Britt
|
07/13/07 04:03 PM
|
|
Hey, maybe this freeze will help to weed out the bad teachers. Do people realize that a Bachelors degree in Education is just a degree in HOW TO TEACH? Its NOT the subject they teach. Yeah, that may be the problem with our state's stupidity.
|
|
by Larry
|
07/13/07 03:14 PM
|
|
Why does the school system need School Resource Officers from PCSO and also have the Pinellas Co. School Police? I am pro-law enforcement, but this duplication of services should be seriously reviewed. The school police should handle those duties.
|
|
by JB
|
07/13/07 01:03 PM
|
|
Mike, that is my battle cry. FL lottery has given over $16 billion since 89. Does that mean without the lottery, classrooms would occur outdoors? Cuz you know there are 2000 portable classrooms in Pin and Hills counties alone. Unfrigginbelievable
|
|
by Paul
|
07/13/07 12:38 PM
|
|
It time for a
income tax for the schools in pinellas county
|
|
by Kelly
|
07/13/07 12:08 PM
|
|
I can't believe we are freezing teacher hires. There are countless other places to cut money in this school district. Aren't teachers the priority in hiring? Apparently not!
|
|
by Joanna
|
07/13/07 11:01 AM
|
|
When did this freeze start? No wonder all principals were trying to hire before the announcement! Instead of having all these other superintendants why don't all principals report to only Wilcox? Wouldn't that save money, close those offices!
|
|
by Myron
|
07/13/07 10:33 AM
|
|
I want to know why my tax dollars for education go towards paying for a School police dept. This could be done much cheaper I'm sure. The money that could be saved could go back into the teachers pockets for training, hiring, and travel.
|
|
by Sue
|
07/13/07 09:35 AM
|
|
A/C up to 80*, no after school programs, more children per class room (min. 30) walk to school if within two miles, if over parents pay $2- per day per child, or they still walk kids getting too fat anyway! We 60 did just fine with 40 per class!
|
|
by Mike
|
07/13/07 09:10 AM
|
|
I would like to know where all the lottery money we supposedly get goes. They promised a better school system but cut our budgets and suplimented it with the lottery money.
|
|
by Dwayne
|
07/13/07 05:45 AM
|
|
With insurance & property taxes skyrocketing, only the well-heeled & retirees will be living in Pinellas Co. When you squeeze out the working-class, the infrastructure that serves the well-heeled and the retirees will collapse. Then what will you do?
|
|
News
Fifty years ago, they were screwed-up kids sent to the Florida School for Boys to be straightened out. But now they are screwed-up men, scarred by the whippings they endured. Read the story and see a video and portrait gallery.
Print
Email story
Comment
Letter to the editor
