The Herald Banner (Greenville, TX) - GISD facing $500,000 Budget Deficit

By CAROL FERGUSON Herald-Banner Staff

GREENVILLE — Despite more than $1 million in budget cuts, the Greenville Independent School District is facing a budget deficit of approximately $500,000 for the 2010-11 fiscal year.

The Greenville ISD Board of Trustees conducted a workshop Tuesday afternoon, during which time the district’s chief financial officer, David Carter, gave a presentation regarding the 2010-11 budget.

Carter informed the board of the district’s 2010-11 budget goals, which include a balanced budget, reducing costs as far away from classrooms and students as possible, the continual review of staffing levels and the implementation of the strategic action plans approved by the board earlier this year.

“We are trying to cut as far away from kids and succesful programs as possible,” said Superintendent Don Jefferies.

Administrators are proposing an unchanged Maintenance and Operations (M&O) tax rate of $1.04 per $100 valuation, in addition to an Interest and Sinking (I&S) tax rate of $0.1548 per $100 valuation. The I&S is an increase of approximately $0.01 from the 2009-10 rate due to a decreased tax collection percentage.

The budget also factors in a state mandated pay increase for teachers and a proposed three percent pay increase for some administrators and all support staff, which includes aides, maintenance workers, bus drivers and custodial staff.

Without factoring in the pay increases for employees, the district is projected to have revenues of $32,720,561 and expenditures of $33,020,833 — equating to a deficit of approximately $300,272.Carter and Jefferies also detailed more than $1 million in budget cuts to reduce the deficit.

Budget cuts totaling $1,015,666 include: Re-locating Travis Elementary to the Sixth Grade Center, a five percent decrease in campus budgets, re-aligned central office and transportation staff and the attrition of vacant positions.

“We are trying to be as lean as we can with as good of people as we can get,” said Jefferies.

Trustee Anne Haynes, who presided over the meeting in the absence of Board President Charles Sivley, said the proposed 2010-11 budget was the leanest she has seen since serving on the board.

“It is one of the leanest budgets that accomplishes the most.

However, Haynes said the board would eventually have to consider a tax ratification election.

The district is expected to receive the certified tax roll from the Hunt County Appraisal District on July 25.

The next budget workshop is scheduled for July 27, during which time the board is expected to set the date for the public hearing regarding the budget and tax rate. Administrators have recommended that the public hearing and adoption of the budget and tax rate take place on Aug. 17.

Center on Budget and Policy Priorities

http://www.cbpp.org/cms/index.cfm?fa=view&id=1214

K-12 Education and Other Childhood Education Programs

At least 30 states and the District of Columbia have implemented cuts to K-12 education.

Arizona eliminated preschool for 4,328 children, funding for schools to provide additional support to disadvantaged children from preschool to third grade, aid to charter schools, and funding for books, computers, and other classroom supplies. The state also halved funding for kindergarten, leaving school districts and parents to shoulder the cost of keeping their children in school beyond a half-day schedule.

California reduced K-12 aid to local school districts by billions of dollars and is cutting a variety of programs, including adult literacy instruction and help for high-needs students.

Colorado has reduced public school spending in FY 2011 by $260 million, nearly a 5 percent decline from the previous year. The cut amounts to more than $400 per student.

Georgia cut state funding for K-12 education for FY 2011 by $403 million or 5.5 percent. The cut has led the state’s board of education to exempt local school districts from class size requirements to reduce costs.

Hawaii shortened the current school year by 17 days and is furloughing teachers for those days.

Illinois reduced funding for early childhood education by 10 percent, which could cause as many as 10,000 children to lose eligibility.

Maryland cut professional development for principals and educators, as well as health clinics, gifted and talented summer centers, and math and science initiatives.

Michigan cut its FY 2010 school aid budget by $382 million, resulting in a $165 per-pupil spending reduction.

Mississippi cut its FY 2010 funding for K-12 education by 9.5 percent, mostly out of the Mississippi Adequate Education Program established to bring per-pupil spending up to adequate levels in every district.

Massachusetts cut Head Start, universal pre-kindergarten programs, and early intervention services to help special-needs children develop appropriately and be ready for school. The state also cut K-12 funding, including for mentoring, teacher training, reimbursements for special education residential schools, services for disabled students, and programs for gifted and talented students.

New Jersey cut funding for afterschool programs aimed to enhance student achievement and keep students safe between the hours of 3 and 6 p.m. The cut will likely cause more than 11,000 students to lose access to the programs and 1,100 staff workers to lose their jobs.

Rhode Island cut state aid for K-12 education and reduced the number of children who can be served by Head Start and similar services.

Virginia’s $700 million in cuts for the coming biennium include the state’s share of an array of school district operating and capital expenses and funding for class-size reduction in kindergarten through third grade. In addition, a $500 million reduction in state funding for some 13,000 support staff such as janitors, school nurses, and school psychologists from last year’s budget was made permanent.

Washington suspended a program to reduce class sizes and provide professional development for teachers; the state also reduced funding for maintaining 4th grade student-to-staff-ratios by $30 million.

State education grants to school districts and education programs have also been cut in Alabama, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Florida, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Nebraska, Nevada, Ohio, Oregon, South Carolina, and Utah.

New York Times - State Senate, Trying to Trim Deficit, Offers Budget Plan Cutting $1.4 Billion From Schools

By JEREMY W. PETERS

ALBANY — School financing, a perennial third rail of state politics, would be cut by $1.4 billion under a plan put forward on Monday by Senate Democrats trying to plug a budget deficit estimated at $9 billion.

The resolution the Senate passed constituted a grab bag from the $134 billion budget Gov. David A. Paterson introduced in January. It cut in many of the same areas the governor had, but also restored many of the reductions he had called for and rejected his most prominent revenue proposals.

The plan, which also counts on $700 million from the refinancing of tobacco bonds, was the Legislature’s first step toward laying out its own budget; it has a deadline of March 31. The Assembly is expected to adopt its own spending plan later this week.

Though the budget that ends up on Mr. Paterson’s desk could look quite different, Mr. Paterson praised the broad outlines of the Senate Democrats’ plan, which was adopted on a straight party-line vote.

“We are pleased to see that the Senate, for the most part, accepts the deficit reductions that we have made,” Mr. Paterson said Monday during an appearance at City Hall.

Senate Democrats, however, did not include the governor’s plans to tax sugary drinks, to raise the cigarette tax by $1, to $3.75, or to allow grocery stores to sell wine.

Their plan would leave spending for state parks at levels high enough that none would have to be closed and it would avoid deep cuts to the State University of New York and City University of New York systems.

But the plan essentially accepts the governor’s proposed education cuts, though it would distribute them differently — a move that was greeted with surprise in the halls of the Capitol, where teachers’ unions and public school lobbyists have long wielded great influence.

“It underscores the severity of the state’s budget problems that they are willing to accept a school aid cut,” said Edmund J. McMahon, director of the Empire Center for New York State Policy, a conservative-leaning research group. “Even they know you need to do this. And that’s a pretty significant thing.”

Democrats said they understood the significance of calling for such deep cuts to public schools, characterizing them as painful but unavoidable.

Asked why education, along with health care, was being singled out for cuts, Senator Liz Krueger, a Manhattan Democrat, replied, “Because that’s where the money is.”

Whether those cuts would be included in the final budget passed by the Legislature was not clear. Senator John L. Sampson, leader of the Senate Democratic conference, said the budget resolution was merely a first step meant to jump-start the negotiation process.

“There will be a dialogue,” Mr. Sampson said. “This is just a resolution. This is a road map to where we want to go.”

Just last week, a group of 15 senators wrote to Mr. Paterson, telling him they would not support a budget that included spending reductions for schools.

In their plan, Senate Democrats also proposed cutting health care spending by about $641 million. That is less than the $1 billion reduction Mr. Paterson called for, but still amounts to an overall reduction of 1.3 percent to the Health Department’s budget. The department’s total budget would be $55.9 billion.

Advocates for public school teachers and administrators reacted with outrage to the Democrats’ plan.

The New York State School Boards Association estimated that it could cost 14,000 teachers their jobs.

Ernest Logan, president of the Council of School Supervisors and Administrators, called the plan “unconscionable.”

Michael Mulgrew, president of the United Federation of Teachers, said it would result in deteriorating conditions at New York City schools, just as the financial crisis of the 1970s had. “The Senate’s proposal is a disaster in the making for the children in New York’s public schools,” Mr. Mulgrew said.

Others had different reasons for disliking the plan. Some found the Democrats’ budget had a too-good-to-be-true ring to it. “How did we balance this budget by restoring all these wonderful things?” asked Senator John A. DeFrancisco, a Republican from the Syracuse area. “Well, simple answer: It’s not balanced.”

A caption in an earlier version of this article mistakenly identified Senator John L. Sampson as John L. Sann.