Balancing budget requires nearly $24 million in cuts
By B.C. Manion
The Pasco County School Board has given initial approval of a district budget topping $1 billion for the 2012-13 fiscal year.
But balancing the budget required the district to make about $24 million in cuts.
The plan receiving first-round approval includes cuts such as:
—Two furlough days for employees, saving about $3.3 million.
—95 fewer positions, saving more than $3.4 million.
—Freezing two district administration posts, saving $176,142.
—Cutting supplemental days for band directors and football coaches, saving about $36,000.
—Reducing department budgets, saving $125,000.
—Eliminating a dozen literacy coaches, saving about $690,000.
—Using $8.9 million to cover property insurance from a fund that won’t be available next year.
—Board member Cynthia Armstrong on cutting literacy coaches
Superintendent Heather Fiorentino initially recommended four furlough days to help plug the budget hole, but reduced that to two days after the district managed to save money in other ways, such as leaving district openings vacant for longer periods and trimming operating costs.
The district had been bracing for $24.8 million in cuts, but that number went down by roughly $1 million after the county’s property tax values dropped and the state increased its funding for schools.
Part of the reason the district has had to shift personnel and reduce positions is because it must add 107 positions — at a cost of approximately $5.2 million — in order to comply with the state’s class-size requirement.
Meeting that requirement has caused the district to reassign teachers to core academic areas, which will result in fewer elective choices for students in the coming year.
This is the fifth year in a row that the district has faced multi-million cuts.
School board members said the reductions are painful because they reduce district services. They also noted the district is stymied in its efforts to enhance and expand educational opportunities.
School Board Chairwoman Joanne Hurley, along with board members Alison Crumbley and Cynthia Armstrong, said that cutting the literacy coaches is particularly difficult.
“It’s not a cut that anybody in the district, I think, wanted to happen,” Armstrong said.
The move comes at an especially bad time because the district is gearing up to meet even tougher accountability standards, Hurley observed.
The board members also noted the district would like to add an International Baccalaureate program in East Pasco, but the money simply isn’t there.
They also would like to explore adding Schools of Innovation to provide more choices for parents of elementary students, and do more to expand its career academies for high schoolers. But again, they noted, the district doesn’t have the money.
Crumbley said the budget isn’t final, and if any savings can be made in other areas, such as transportation or energy, she’d like to see a greater investment in intervention efforts to help struggling students to succeed.
Trying to find ways to improve education while grappling with budget cuts is frustrating, Crumbley said.
“In addition to not moving forward, it seems like you’re taking steps backward,” Crumbley said.
For instance, she thinks the district could do a better job in career guidance for its students, but she said that’s hard to accomplish when there are fewer guidance counselors.
Armstrong also noted that the district must abide by state mandates even though local officials often have a better idea of what would benefit Pasco students most.
A public hearing and final vote on the school district’s budget is set for 6 p.m. on Sept. 18. The hearing will be at 7227 US 41 in Land O’ Lakes.
