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School Budget Talks Planned

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By RONNIE BLAIR rblair@tampatrib.com

The Tampa Tribune

Published: December 13, 2008

LAND O' LAKES - Pasco County School Board members will deal with more than just their current $8.7 million shortfall when they meet Tuesday in a budget workshop to review the school district's financial woes.

The board also will be bracing for a 2009-10 budget year that's expected to be even worse than the current one.

Superintendent Heather Fiorentino and her staff put together a list of potential spending cuts that was distributed to school board members Friday.

The list includes a Plan A to deal with the current shortfall, a Plan B to deal with an anticipated shortfall of $10 million to $15 million that could be coming in the last five months of this fiscal year, and a Plan C that looks toward 2009-10.

Areas that could be cut - either next school year or during the remainder of this one - touch on everything from jobs to employee benefits to academics to extracurricular activities.

Some of the cost-saving ideas came from the district staff. Others came from school board members, employees and the union that represents teachers and other school workers.

School districts across Florida are dealing with budget troubles because of a revenue shortfall at the state level. Pasco began the year by slicing $16 million from its general fund, which pays for the day-to-day operation of the schools.

The Pasco board already held a budget workshop Dec. 1 to discuss the financial challenges, but it became clear quickly that a second budget workshop would be needed as the potential shortfall continued to mount.

Some cost-saving efforts are already in place. Fiorentino announced a districtwide hiring freeze Dec. 2.

Ideas for other cuts that could be tossed around Tuesday include using capital funds to pay for property insurance, delaying textbook purchases and eliminating summer school. At the last workshop, board members also raised the possibility of layoffs.

The budget workshop will be at 4 p.m. in the TV studio in building No. 3 at the district administrative offices at 7227 Land O' Lakes Blvd.

A regular school board meeting will follow at 6 p.m. in the board meeting room in the same building.

Reporter Ronnie Blair can be reached at (813) 948-4218.

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