New Cuts Add to Schools’ Worries (OK)
May 21, 2010
After receiving yet another round of less-than-expected state allocation checks this week, some area school districts are even more worried about next year’s budget.
This month’s numbers were attributed to a shortfall in the House Bill 1017 fund, which is used to pay for education reforms and comes from a variety of sources, including taxes and tribal gaming revenue.
At the same time — with an expected 10 percent cut in state funding for the next fiscal year and federal stimulus money set to end — the three biggest suburban districts are talking about cutting teacher jobs.
"This all is impacting our schools the same way. It will set education back 25 years," said Nancy McKay, chief financial officer for Jenks schools.
Jenks Public Schools received about $224,000 less in this month’s funding from the state because of the House Bill 1017 fund shortfall, McKay said.
"The Office of State Finance painted a much brighter picture of state revenue collections than what they were," McKay said. "Because they did that, it came out of left field. We were all shocked."
So far, the district is down about $4.8 million in state funding through May.
"The problem is, that stabilization money goes away after next year, and if the state’s economy does not improve, Oklahoma school districts will be laying off thousands of teachers," McKay said.
Jenks plans to cut 19 certified teaching positions, as well as freeze budgets, restrict overtime and implement voluntary
furloughs, among other measures. The district also plans to reduce non-certified staff hours during the summer from 40 hours per week to 36 and eliminate Advanced Placement stipends to teachers.
Union
Cathy Burden, superintendent of Union Public Schools, said her district has worked out several scenarios to move forward, some of which include cutting teacher jobs. But the district has not publicly presented the ideas and is waiting on a clearer budget picture.
"We’re very worried about it, just like everyone else," Burden said. "However, we haven’t wanted to release a plan until we heard from the Legislature. At that point we will evaluate where we are based on what their cut is."
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Since December, the district has seen a $2.7 million cut in state aid and flex benefits to staff, she said, and despite promises from state leaders that education cuts would only be around 3 percent, cuts have already gone above 6 percent.
Burden said she attended a meeting with legislators Tuesday and said they hope an education budget will be completed by the end of the week.
"We’re very eager to hear what their final estimate will be for next year, and the sooner the better," Burden said. "Our teachers are sitting in limbo not knowing whether they are in jeopardy or not. Though we’re going to try and protect as many jobs as possible, we may have to cut teachers and we may not, it all depends on the amount cut."
Broken Arrow
Broken Arrow Superintendent Gary Gerber said this month’s shortfall of about $357,000 puts the district $2.6 million behind last year’s funding. The Legislature missing its April 1 deadline to present an education budget has complicated issues further.
"This is getting to be ridiculous," Gerber said. "The inaction on the part of the Legislature in terms of acting on a budget within a reasonable period of time so that schools can do some planning is compounding the problem."
Gerber said he and other school officials are meeting weekly on the school’s finances and hope the Legislature will have a budget by the end of May. A budget plan for the district will likely be presented to the school board in June. Cutting teacher jobs might be a part of that plan, he said.
"It’s on the table. We’re still studying it all," Gerber said. "We’ve worked really hard these last two years to get our fund balance up to the point where we can weather these cuts coming in the next year."
Read more from this Tulsa World article at http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?subjectid=331&articleid=20100519_19_A9_Afterr607619