A decade later, school budget cuts still felt

Many of the cuts from 10 years ago were never reinstated, which makes the impact of this year's proposed cuts even worse, school industry officials say.

By KENT FISCHER

© St. Petersburg Times,
published October 7, 2001

The headline evoked images of doom: "Pasco schools wrestle with cuts."

On the table were $12.8-million in budget cuts, hitting everything from athletics to classroom materials to hiring freezes.

Sound familiar? It should, although that particular headline wasn't published recently.

The date was Oct. 4, 1991, and that St. Petersburg Times story would have fit perfectly with the anxiety felt around the Pasco County School District this week. Budget cuts are back, as superintendent John Long and school principals outlined -- coincidentally -- $12.8-million in cuts they might have to make this school year. As in 1991, everything from athletics to classroom materials could see reductions.

Just like in 1991, today's feared cuts are the result of a souring state economy that relies heavily on taxes generated by tourism. This latest round of cuts could sting more than those of a decade ago, some say, because many of the previous reductions were never reinstated, even after the economy took off in the mid 1990s.

With that history in mind, Lynne Webb is fearful that the state's latest budget crunch will leave schools limping along for years to come.

"A lot of the things that we've cut were never fully restored," said Webb, president of the United School Employees of Pasco. "This school district has never had a whole lot of fat."

Teacher "step increases" -- annual pay raises based on experience -- were slashed by two-thirds for the 1991-92 school year. When the teacher's union and board negotiated a new contract in the summer of 1992, the step increases weren't returned to their previous levels.

The amount of money schools receive for classroom materials was cut by about $100 per teacher in the early 1990s. That money, too, was never restored.

In 1992 a change in state funding forced most districts to scale back high school classes from seven periods a day to six, saving Pasco schools $1.8-million. The change occurred as the state was searching for ways to pay for new school construction, Long said. That period, too, was gone for good.

Also cut for good during those lean economic times were the district's homework hotline, three quasi-administrators who helped run night school, the district's political lobbyist and school truant officers.

"Once you make a cut, it seems like the state never makes up the funds," said Long, who was an assistant superintendent during the tough cuts of the early 1990s. "You get your money for growth and maybe a little bit more, but you never get back to where you were."

But not everything that was cut 10 years ago disappeared forever. Many of those early reductions were restored, although the district's incredible growth since 1990 makes it hard to precisely say which cuts have endured, said Chuck Rushe, the district's chief financial officer.

Some positions were restored when the economy turned, while others were added as enrollments spiraled and new schools were built.

Since 1990, the district has opened 18 new schools and hired an additional 2,400 employees to keep up with an enrollment that surged by 52 percent. More than 50,000 students now attend 56 schools.

Middle school athletic programs, offered up as expendable by principals this week, were cut in 1992 but eventually restored. So was about $900,000 in cuts to the transportation department, as was money that was transferred out of the substitute teacher budget.

The district saved more than $500,000 in 1992 by not filling vacancies for several assistant principals, cafeteria workers and secretaries. Those positions also were eventually filled.

In some instances, the district wanted to restore some of its cuts, but couldn't because the state has increasingly mandated how schools spend their state aid, said Tom Weightman, the former Pasco school superintendent who oversaw the cuts in the early 1990s. Those spending restrictions have only increased of late, he said, meaning this current budget crisis could end up being just as bad.

-- Kent Fischer covers education in Pasco County. He can be reached in west Pasco at 869-6241 or toll-free at 1-800-333-7505, ext. 6241. His e-mail address is kfischer@sptimes.com.

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