Popular Slideshows On CBS11TV.COM
Mar 24, 2009 10:27 pm US/Central
Fort Worth ISD Faces $43 Million Shortfall
Joel Thomas and Carol Cavazos
FORT WORTH (CBS 11 / TXA 21) ―
The Fort Worth Independent School District faces a $43 million shortfall after dipping into its savings last year to cover a budget shortfall.
District planners say they'll have to make cuts and likely let staff go within the next two years.
Fifteen million dollars has to be cut from the budget while somehow leaving the schools unscathed. Next year, they would face $28 million in cuts.
Teachers and staff make up 87 percent of the district's budget. "Eventually, if you have to have draconian cuts, then everything is on the table," said FWISD CFO Ron Wilson.
Many parents with children in the district worry the cuts will mean fewer teachers.
"Less teachers, more kids in rooms is the way I see it," said Stephanie Olivarez, an aunt of a seven-year-old student. "And that's less time for teachers to spend on the children to learn. I had that problem and it affected my studies."
"We're working diligently, and I have made a promise that we will not
cut the schools' budgets. We will look elsewhere, all around those, before we go there this
year. Next year we won't have that option," said Melody Johnson, FWISD Superintendent.
Two things could help: government stimulus money from the state stabilization fund. "We need to be stabilized, and we're not the only school district," said Wilson.
The second is going back to the drawing board on school funding.
The costs to put kids in school have gone up. The power for the lights,
the fuel to bus the kids and the food to feed them have all have gone
up in price. But the district doesn't have any more money to spend on
the kids.
In 2005, the state froze the amount each district could spend per
student and they froze the tax rates. If a district makes a little more
money because property values have gone up, the state essentially takes
it away. That freezes the district's income to 2005 levels.
"You can see why every school district in the state is screaming, 'We're out of options!' That's kind of where we find ourselves right now," said Johnson.
The question is how deep to cut. Some say the district can hold on by firing staff and sparing the teachers by hiring fewer of them.
"Instead of hiring 700 teachers, maybe they only hire 300 and put them in critical places," said Larry Shaw with the United Educators Association.
Board members and staff met Tuesday night for some number crunching. The district board will not vote on its 2010 budget until late this summer.
(© MMX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
Recent Celebrity Deaths
Click to enlarge
Stumble It!
Comments