Pasco County School Board members have expressed a desire to give teachers a raise, but according to Superintendent Kurt Browning, there’s no money available to make that happen.
Browning’s remarks came during a budget workshop last week in the board room at the district’s headquarters in Land O’ Lakes.
Olga Swinson, the district’s chief financial officer, provided a run-through of budget numbers for board members — noting that these numbers will change before the board’s next budget workshop, which is set for July 24.
However, based on what the district knows now, there’s a projected deficit of about $1.2 million, she said.
(Randy Underhill)
Based on that, the district will have to find cuts to balance the budget before the board takes its first vote on the budget July 31, Browning said.
“I think what we’re all looking for here is where we can find money for teacher raises because we all said that was a priority for us,” said board member Colleen Beaudoin.
Swinson responded: “Obviously, we didn’t get enough money for salary raises.”
Beaudoin noted: “I’m concerned that we’re losing good people.”
The district needs to look at such issues as how much it costs to hire, onboard, train and support new staff when it loses current employees, Beaudoin said.
“What’s our risk/reward? What’s our return on investment?” the school board member asked.
The district also needs to consider issues such as “the time it takes to get someone to their peak performance,” Beaudoin continued. “Not increasing salaries is hurting us in other ways.”
Board vice chairwoman Alison Crumbley agreed: “It has a snowball effect.”
Browning said: “I would love to find money for salary increases for instructional, SRPs, administrators, everybody.”
But, the superintendent said the state did not provide enough money to make that happen.
He noted that Hillsborough County’s school district is providing large salary increases, but it is cutting hundreds of jobs to cover the costs.
“I, as a superintendent, am not ready to make a recommendation to this board that we start cutting positions, critical positions in the schools, to give raises to remaining staff,” Browning said.
“We’re not cutting positions this year. Everybody, and I’ll just say it, ought to be thankful they have a job, based on the funding we received from the state.
“It’s unfortunate that they did not provide the dollars that we needed in order to continue to improve salaries,” the superintendent said.
State lawmakers claim that they provided record funding for school districts, Browning said, “what they stop short of saying is they’re also telling you how to spend it.
“If you look at that, almost $4 million is going to the safe school allocation and the mental health,” he said.
Plus, about $5.3 million of the state funding is going to charter schools.
Browning said the district’s salaries have improved in recent years, but the funding is not there to improve them again this year.
But, he acknowledged Beaudoin’s and Crumbley’s concerns.
“We know we’ve got to get our salaries competitive. I know that,” Browning said.
Published June 27, 2018
