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More cuts for school budget
By KENT FISCHER
© St. Petersburg Times, LAND O'LAKES -- Pasco County School District administrators are planning a revised list of budget cuts after lawmakers ended a special session Wednesday without giving them greater flexibility in how they can spend money they already have. On the initial list: 10 administrative jobs will be left vacant or will be reassigned to schools; summer school will be drastically reduced; and a districtwide hiring freeze will remain in place indefinitely. The district had previously outlined more than $6.5-million in potential cuts, but most of them relied on the state giving schools permission to use money it had set aside for specific programs to instead be used for budget items such as salaries. But lawmakers ended their rancorous special session without giving schools any new spending flexibility. For example, superintendent John Long wanted to avoid the possibility of layoffs by using about $1.5-million in state computer money to cover teacher salaries. That plan is now kaput. "If I had to choose between a computer and a teacher, I'd choose the teacher every time," Long said. ". . . That's not possible now." So on Wednesday he and other top district administrators began outlining a new list of cuts totaling $3-million, Pasco's share of the statewide $137-million hit to education. Pasco already spends less money per student on administration than every other district in Florida except one, according to an annual state report that tracks school spending. The district spends about $331 per student on administration, roughly 20 percent less than the state average. Long said he fears more cuts are coming because the Legislature closed its session without balancing the state's budget, which was $1.3-billion in the red. After an acrimonious week, lawmakers cut only $800-million. "We're holding our breath," Long said. "Where's the other $500-million going to come from?" School administrators also are busy preparing two more phases of budget cuts. The next phase will be finalized early next week and will address cuts that could be made quickly, possibly by the end of next month. The final phase will include program cuts for next school year. Those final round of cuts could be the most painful, Long said, because state economists already are predicting that next year's state budget will be as bad -- if not worse -- than this year's. "My big worry is that the state isn't going to to give us enough money (to cover) growth," he said. Pasco's school enrollment has been booming for years and shows no signs of slowing down. This year alone, enrollment is up about 4 percent -- or 2,000 students -- over last year. The district's hands aren't completely tied by spending mandates from the state. It does have a pot of money of several million dollars that it can spend just about however it chooses. Rather than cut drop-out prevention programs, the district now will use some of that money to pay the salaries of those teachers. That change, however, will force a big cut to summer school, because it also is paid for out of that flexible fund, said Assistant Superintendent Sandy Ramos. That means summer school probably will be limited only to special education students whose education plans require it, and for seniors who need to make up a course in order to graduate. "We're going to start advising kids (tomorrow) to take advantage of our afterschool programs and our adult education classes and not to count on summer school," Ramos said. - 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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From today's Pasco Times |
