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School Budget Ax Looms

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By ADAM EMERSON

aemerson@tampatrib.com

Published: March 11, 2009

TAMPA - Unpaid days off. Fewer minutes in art class. Reassigning guidance counselors and career specialists.

And those steps might not be enough to avoid painful cuts in the Hillsborough County School District budget.

They are, however, among grim options Superintendent MaryEllen Elia laid out to the school board Tuesday as the district prepares to cut millions from next year's budget.

Elia told the board that in drafting ideas to save money, the district avoided layoffs and pay cuts, unlike other Florida school systems. Board members, though, winced at some of the planned cuts, which include unpaid furloughs for employees and taking guidance counselors out of some schools and reassigning them elsewhere.

"Elementary schools don't have as many support employees to begin with, so I'm really concerned with what we're taking off the plate," board member Candy Olson said.

Many of the ideas must be negotiated with the teachers union, whose leaders told the school board that its goal of keeping the classrooms free of harm is crumbling.

"All of these things have a direct, negative effect in the classroom," said Yvonne Lyons, executive director of the Hillsborough Classroom Teachers Association. "We're remiss if we don't recognize that."
Furloughs would save the most money, about $11.4 million. The district has proposed two-day furloughs for teachers, custodians and bus drivers, among others. Those who work on 12-month contracts, which include administrators and their secretaries, would take three days off without pay.

Under its plan, the district also would require music, physical education and elementary foreign language teachers to work an extra 30-minute class period. Art instructors would teach 10 30-minute class periods instead of nine 45-minute periods.

Elia says the district can save about $95.7 million with these proposals and with other budget-cutting measures administrators have undertaken. She warned, however, that those savings might not be enough.

When asked how much the district might have to cut, Elia told the board it may have to carve as much as $160 million out of next year's budget, depending on economic forecasts.

Reporter Adam Emerson can be reached at (813) 259-8285.

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