Topic: News: New school budget saves weightlifting, cuts substitute plan

[Chris Ⓐ LeRoux]

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New school budget saves weightlifting, cuts substitute plan
By Kara Phelps

BARTOW - Polk County Schools will see a smaller budget again next year, but the revenue losses aren't expected to be as bad.

As school district officials released an updated savings plan for the 2009-10 fiscal year budget, they said the smaller budget was due to cuts in the state education budget and declining student enrollment.

This week, Mark Grey, assistant superintendent of business services, presented Polk County School Board members with a new list of recommended savings options for next year. Officials now expect to receive about $31 million in federal stabilization funds. The state of Florida had to apply for a waiver to receive the funds since it did not spend enough on education last year to qualify originally.

School weightlifting programs are no longer on the list to be eliminated, but the recommended savings include cutting down on expenditures such as supplies and fuel, shifting some employees' salaries to federal grant funds and asking that administrators and other non-teaching employees serve as substitute teachers for one day during the school year.

The new plan would spend about $1 million more than the list released in April, although Grey said the figures are adjusted constantly.

"This budget is kind of like a fast-moving river, and we're trying to get across it," he said.

The original plan was to make substitute teaching mandatory, but that was changed in the new plan after some school board members objected last month. They said at the time that some employees might not know how to control a classroom.

While substitute teaching is no longer a requirement, district officials estimated that if each eligible employee substitutes for one day, the district would save about $51,000.

Sixty-two school reading coaches would have to re-apply to positions called Academic Intervention Coaches so that their salaries can be paid with federal grant funds. The move would save the district about $3.3 million. School psychologists and social workers would also be paid with grants, saving about $5.2 million.

The school operating budget also would be cut by about $500,000, or 10 percent. Separate from the budget cuts, the school district expects student enrollment to fall slightly next year, losing about $108,000 in state funds that hinge on those numbers.

Last year's total budget was about $620 million. The combined savings options on the current list would account for about $17.9 million in lost revenue, down from $18.6 million last month.

"At least this year, it keeps all our employees working," Grey said of the plan. "We can get by with the people we have."