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School budget grows; costs grow more
By MELANIE AVE
© St. Petersburg Times, TAMPA -- The Hillsborough County school district may have more money this coming year, but it will cut jobs to help pay for the increased costs of doing business. Principals have been asked to chop their budgets by 2 percent and the district administrators by 5 percent to come up with $103-million for additional expenses and potential teacher raises. Dozens of administration-level vacant positions are being reclassified or eliminated. "These cuts are needed to provide us with any kind of ability to operate next year," said Superintendent Earl Lennard. Today, School Board members will consider a $1.89-billion proposed budget for the coming year. They also will be asked to approve a reorganization that, among other things, cuts the number of general directors who oversee the schools from eight to seven and gives each one a $4,000 annual raise beginning in March. Officials characterized the budget picture as better than many school districts' around Florida, but overall a wash. The proposed budget will slightly increase the property tax millage rate from 8.71 to 8.73. The owner of a $100,000 home with a homestead exemption would pay $1.42 more a year in taxes. Despite $59-million in new state and local dollars, the costs of health insurance, school construction, gasoline and utilities have eaten up the additional dollars, said assistant superintendent Mike Bookman. "You may get more money, but your expenses may be increasing more than the new money," he said. "We had a significant increase in health insurance for our employees. We're looking at hiring additional staff for additional students. We have increased costs by doing our normal thing." Rising costs include $8.4-million in health insurance; $4-million for opening new schools, including five this fall; $1-million in gasoline costs; and $7.6-million in projected student growth. Some of the changes include deleting 25 bus driver positions, eliminating a security officer from the administration building and upgrading charter school coordinator Charlene Pirko to a supervisor and giving her additional duties. Deputy superintendent Jim Hamilton said the district hopes to offer teacher raises, though negotiations with the Hillsborough Classroom Teachers Association have yet to begin. Raises and benefits have become increasingly important to attracting and retaining teachers because of the continuing teacher shortage. Association executive director Yvonne Lyons said she's glad to hear the district has made teachers' salaries a priority. "Whatever we end up with will be largely determined by how big the cuts are," she said. "I feel certain there will be something, but we're not sure what that something will be." Tonight's board meeting has been scheduled for 7 at the administrative center. - Melanie Ave covers education and can be reached at (813) 226-3400. Interested?A public hearing on the budget has been set for 6 p.m. July 31 at the Shelton School Administrative Center, 901 E. Kennedy Blvd. A second and final hearing will be held at 7 p.m. Sept. 4.
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