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Pinellas schools are warned in a memo not to spend even state funds they won with top grades.
By KELLY RYAN GILMER
© St. Petersburg Times, published October 25, 2001
Reflecting the anxiety that educators are feeling as the Legislature tries to plug a $1.3-billion budget deficit, several school districts have questioned whether they will receive or be allowed to spend state money earned by schools for improvement or top grades on standardized tests.
In a memo sent to schools and administrators Monday about the state's "bleak" financial situation, Pinellas schools superintendent Howard Hinesley asked all offices -- including schools -- to hold off on equipment purchases, overtime, contracted services and spending school improvement or school recognition money.
"We are requesting that these be held until a determination can be made as to whether or not the Legislature is going to reduce these funds and give flexibility to local school boards to address this shortfall," Hinesley wrote.
Other school districts have had similar questions raised by top administrators, and the state Department of Education has answered that the money must be spent by the schools -- not used by administrators to fill gaps left by legislative budget trimming.
In e-mail messages, the Florida Department of Education has notified other school districts that the "funds must be . . . placed in the school's account and must be used as determined by the school's staff and school advisory council." The money can be used for just about any nonrecurring expense, from one-time bonuses for teachers to instructional materials.
In that same DOE memo, the department wrote that "we have received no indication that the Legislature will reconsider the use of these funds." Pinellas officials have not gotten any such e-mails.
Since Monday, school administrators in Pinellas and around the state have been watching the scene in Tallahassee, where legislators are meeting in a special session to close a $1.3-billion budget deficit.
The session lasts through next week. Though the Pinellas district has frozen travel budgets, Hinesley, district lobbyist Steve Swartzel and several School Board members got permission to go to Tallahassee to represent the county.
With no answers yet about how hard schools will be hit, districts are preparing for the worst. Pinellas expects to lose just more than $20-million from a $1-billion budget -- an amount that officials say they can't absorb without drastic measures.
Last month, Hinesley announced a districtwide hiring freeze and ended most out-of-county travel.
"Please be assured that if we don't tighten our belts immediately, next school year will present us with a nearly impossible challenge," Hinesley wrote.
Neighboring districts, including Hillsborough and Pasco, also are slowing spending on hiring employees, out-of-county travel and implementing programs. Pasco superintendent John Long also asked the 11 schools that won $1.2-million for their improved test scores to hold on to the money.
Lansing Johansen and Doug Forth, Pinellas' top financial administrators, said the latest curbs on spending are prudent amid so much uncertainty. The district plans to balance its budget with cost-cutting measures and maybe dipping into reserve funds.
In Pinellas, 40 schools earned $3.8-million in state recognition funds because their students performed well on the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test. That money is funneled through the district, which then hands out checks to eligible schools that have written spending plans.
So far, only Oak Grove Middle School and Lakewood High School have submitted their plans, but other schools are being encouraged to finish theirs.
Rob McMahon, president of the teachers union, on Wednesday fielded at least 10 calls from schools where employees are afraid that they will never see school improvement or recognition money.
He said he has been assured by district budget officials that they are just being cautious "in case the Legislature does something to make those funds more flexible so that they might be used for other purposes." McMahon said he doubted that anything would change this year.
"If the money's here, certainly you can't take it back, but who knows what the Legislature would do?" McMahon said. "To take it away now would be terrible."
The School Board will discuss the budget at a workshop Tuesday at district headquarters, 301 Fourth St. SW in Largo.
-- Times staff writer Stephen Hegarty contributed to this report.