CAT Tracks for August 11, 2010
BUDGET CUTS GREET NEW SCHOOL YEAR


From the St. Louis Post Dispatch...


Link to Original Story

Many schools hobbled by cuts as year begins

BY JESSICA BOCK

They'll spend more time on the school bus, have extra desks squeezed into their classrooms and pay to play in extracurricular sports.

Students in the St. Louis area begin to head back to school this week, and for many, a host of budget cuts will greet them for the new year.

The St. Charles School District, which starts school today, will no longer run buses that took students home after an athletic practice or other after-school activity. As part of $3.5 million in cuts, there are fewer coaches and teachers in Granite City schools. And travel paid for by the district for teams and field trips will be limited.

Many districts, citing grim financial times, say the trims are necessary for short-term survival during a dismal economy. A state budget crisis in Illinois has left school districts there more than $1 billion short.

"We're all in the same boat, and that boat is sinking," said Harry Briggs, superintendent in the Granite City district, which begins classes today.

Budget situations in districts across the area vary widely, depending on whether a district relies on a majority of its revenue from local property taxes or the state. As a result, some districts are merely making small trims while others are cutting millions from budgets.

Lindbergh schools, for example, laid off teachers for the new school year due to declining local property revenue, which accounts for 90 percent of the district's income. That revenue has declined $14 million since 2007-08, officials say. In response, the district has cut $6.7 million from the budget during the last two years.

Larger classes will be one of the most visible changes for Lindbergh students when they return to school next week. Last year, class sizes averaged 17 students. That number will rise to the mid-20s because of budget cuts that resulted in the elimination of 60 positions for the new school year, including 35 teachers.

"This is really going to hurt the kids that fall through the cracks, especially in those classes where kids needs extra help like reading or math," said Leslie Weiss, who has three kids in Lindbergh schools.

School libraries in the Lindbergh district will be dark at different times during the day because staff cuts have reduced hours. Hours will vary school to school, but some students who arrived too early and used to spend that time studying or using computers in the library will have to go elsewhere, Superintendent Jim Simpson said.

At St. Louis Public Schools, shuttering five school buildings and cutting almost 500 jobs were included in trimming nearly $58 million to balance the budget for the district, which has been dealing with declining enrollment for years and a takeover by the state.

But many Missouri schools have been sheltered from much of the brunt of the recession. Home values have declined, but districts in the St. Louis area have been able to raise tax rates to take in the same revenue, with a few exceptions.

State tax revenue, a key source of school funding, has plummeted, but the federal government has pitched in to help. This year, for example, federal stimulus has allowed Missouri's core spending on public education to remain virtually flat compared to last year.

And more relief is on the way with an emergency funding bill Congress passed Tuesday that includes $10 billion aimed at saving teacher jobs. State officials estimate Missouri will receive $190 million for education during the next year. Illinois will receive $415 million.

As districts crunched the numbers for the budget for the new school year, raises for teachers are one expense many districts have not spared, even though salaries typically account for 80 percent of the budget.

Teachers in the Bayless School District will get a 2.7 percent raise this school year, though some say most won't see a larger check due to change in health and retirement contributions.

Gina McCullough, president of the Bayless Education Association, is considering picking up a part-time evening job at a retail store or restaurant. She said other teachers might do the same.

"Because of that, I think what we're going to see are teachers that are less willing to put in after-school time," she said.

The Bayless raise was offered even as the district eliminated busing to and from school to save the district about $250,000. Administrators said the cut made sense because just 31 percent of students rode buses to school last year.

Elsewhere, teachers have voters to thank for new funding to pay for teacher raises. Voters in Maplewood Richmond Heights and Webster Groves approved operating tax increases to cover pay increases.

But voters in Troy, Mo., narrowly rejected a measure that would have boosted operating revenue for the school district by $3.1 million.

As a result, bus services for students grades 6 to 12 who live within 3.5 miles of their school have been cut.

The increase would have restored that cut and reduced class sizes, reinstated a portion of Parents as Teachers funding and increased teacher salaries to reverse the 32 percent turnover rate. It also would have given the district $1.5 million to save for the 2011-12 school year.

For Mary Sullivan-Thomas' son, the budget cuts mean no sports or field trips when he returns for his seventh-grade school year. He also can no longer ride the bus home.

"I know he is still excited to go back to school and see all of his friends, but he also knows things are different," said Sullivan-Thomas, who put up signs supporting the tax increase with her son.

"I think it's going to be a very challenging year. You don't feel the support from the community when they vote down an initiative."

In Lindbergh, teachers and parents are starting the school year in anticipation of their own election in November, when the district will ask voters to weigh in on a 65-cent tax increase.

"Our teachers and our parents know very well that we are still financially hurting and using our reserves to make ends meet," Simpson said.

"What happens in November determines whether that third round of cuts will happen or not."