In anticipation of a dramatic drop in state funding next school year, the HISD Board of Education on Thursday will consider decreasing the amount of money given to each school by $275 per student.
The reduction in per-student spending would bring HISD $58.4 million closer to closing a projected $171 million budget gap caused largely by state budget cuts. HISD administration has already identified about $45 million in recommended non-classroom budget cuts, which have yet to be considered for Board approval. Additional budget-cutting options under consideration Thursday include:
· Reducing the amount of extra money given to 83 schools with low student enrollment by $266 per child. This would save HISD nearly $2.4 million and could result in some of those schools sharing resources and staff.
· Reducing the amount of extra money given to 11 unique schools by a combined total of $4.6 million.
· Reducing the amount of extra money given to schools with large numbers of students from low-income homes by $60 per student. This is a result of federal funding cuts to programs for poor children.
· Approving a timeline and process for gathering public input concerning the possible closure and consolidations of Grimes, Love, McDade and Rhoads elementary schools. Closing those schools would save nearly $1.7 million.
· Amending the ASPIRE Award performance pay model to eliminate the attendance bonus. Superintendent Terry Grier has also suggested restricting the campus-based financial incentives to schools that achieve state rankings of “exemplary” or “recognized” without the benefit of the Texas Projection Model. In addition, employees with low value-added results would be ineligible for any financial award. These recommendations could save HISD about $2.3 million. Besides saving money, the proposals also seek to bring the award system back in line with its original purpose of rewarding HISD’s most effective teachers.
Principals must now decide how to cut their 2011-2012 campus budgets based on these figures. The leader of a school with 1,200 students, for instance, will have $345,000 less to spend on teachers, support staff, teaching equipment, special programs, and other items. Teachers whose positions are being eliminated must be notified by April 18.
If all of these cuts are approved, HISD will still be more than $61 million short of fully addressing the projected $171 million shortfall. Every $1 million cut from the budget is the equivalent of the average annual salary for 19 teachers.
The Board will also consider the following issues on Thursday:
· The Board will consider executing an agreement with the College Board to offer free SAT testing to all HISD juniors during class time on April 13. Only two other school districts in America have made their students the same offer.
· The Board must decide whether to make June 3 the last day of this school year instead of June 2, as originally planned. The Texas Education Agency is requiring HISD to make up for the day that was lost earlier this winter because of icy road conditions on February 4.
· The Board will consider closing the Ninth Grade College Preparatory Academy and merging it back into the Sam Houston Center for Math, Science and Technology. The ninth-grade school opened in 2008 as part of an effort to comply with a state order to reconstitute Sam Houston High School. The Texas Education Agency has approved closing the school.
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