These are challenging financial times for all of us. Many economists agree that better times are ahead within the next year or so, but in the meantime, families and businesses struggle to make ends meet.
Even though the Sarasota County School District is the largest employer in the county, with approximately 5,000 employees and an operating budget of more than $400 million, it has been forced to make deep budget cuts. School board members and district administrators began the challenging process of developing the 2009-10 budget last October and approved final adjustments and reductions in May.
We explored every possible way to save money while making the least possible impact on student achievement. We worked hard to save jobs for our dedicated employees, but we knew as we approached this task that some positions would need to be eliminated.
Over the last two years, $71 million has been cut from the district’s operating budget: $40 million in 2008-09 and another $31 million from the proposed 2009-10 budget. Because salaries and benefits make up 81 percent of our operating budget, staffing reductions could not be avoided for 2009-10. The district eliminated 229 teaching positions, 75 support-staff jobs and eight central-office administrator positions, for a total reduction of 312 jobs. This was in addition to the more than 200 positions cut last year. The net impact over two years has been a 17-percent reduction in funding and a 10-percent reduction in the district’s work force.
In years past, people who were in positions that were eliminated could often move into positions that had been vacated by retirements or resignations. However, this year there were 129 more instructional positions eliminated than the number of vacancies. As a result, many teachers remain unassigned for the coming school year.
The positions were eliminated because of reduced funding from the state, reflecting less money per student and fewer students in Sarasota County. Local public schools have lost approximately 1,500 students in the last two years; this past year we lost about 100 students a month on average. The Florida Department of Education projects the state student enrollment to decrease by 10,000 students for next year.
In addition to eliminating positions, we shifted high school and middle school schedules to a seven-period day ($5.9 million in savings), eliminated 43 data and literacy coach positions and instructional technology trainer positions ($4.2 million), instituted an energy-saving four-day summer schedule in district offices and summer school ($0.7 million) and made various other cost reductions in departments and schools ($8 million).
The cuts were necessary despite $14 million of federal stabilization money being passed through the state to the district, representing 4 percent of our 2009-10 budget. Additional federal stabilization funds are expected for the 2010-11 school year.
As it does for many school districts across the U.S., the federal money comes at a critical time for us. While there are some concerns about "coming to the edge of a cliff" in two years when the federal dollars run out, the funding must be used now because our teaching staff must be maintained at student-teacher ratios required by law. The class size amendment to the Florida Constitution limits classrooms to 18 students in grades K-3, 22 students in grades 4-8 and 25 students in grades 9-12.
Although we must comply with the class-size amendment and a host of state and federal laws and regulations, most of our funding is local. Here is the breakdown:
• 74 percent of our funding comes from local property taxes.
• 62 percent is collected based on millage formulas set by the state.
• 12 percent is from voted operating millage, the local school funding referendum in place since 2002 and up for renewal in 2010.
• 21 percent of our funding originates directly from the state (less than 1 percent is from the Florida Lottery).
• 5 percent of our funding will be from federal sources in 2009-10.
School board members, district- and school-based administrators, teachers and support staff all take seriously our role as stewards of public funds. In collaboration with parents, volunteers and other supporters of our schools, we do our best to ensure that our children get the best possible education using the available resources.
A quality public school system like ours benefits the entire community, by helping ensure that our future adults will be prepared, productive, responsible and independent. Everyone who values the role played by public education can help the school district and our students, whether they have children in public school or not, by visiting their local schools, voting to support education and volunteering when possible. Together we can face the challenges of reduced resources and maintain the excellence of our renowned school district here in Sarasota County.
Editor’s note: In future Pelican Press guest columns Caroline Zucker will explore the school district’s measures to maintain quality in the classroom in the face of budget reductions and review the district’s capital budget for 2009-10. That budget, which must by state law be maintained separately from the district’s operating budget, is expected to affect the maintenance of school facilities and the rebuilding of Booker and Venice high schools, among other planned projects.
Caroline Zucker is the chairwoman of the Sarasota County School Board.
June 17th 2009 - 7:04PM