“We’re not planning on eliminating anyone who is currently employed with the district,” TISD business coordinator Charles Mikeska said. “We will, however, be eliminating positions through attrition.”
Mikeska said the district would not replace some of its workers who have left teaching and paraprofessional positions. Instead, the district will try to move employees around to replace those who have decided not to return.
“I would say that the majority of the work that went into reducing our budget expenditures went into employee staffing,” Mikeska said.
For the proposed 2008-09 budget, TISD has tentatively decided to reduce about five full-time positions. Mikeska estimated the district has between 60 and 70 open positions, which the district also will study over the upcoming months for possible reductions.
The proposed budget for 2008-09 is $60.1 million, down from the $61.2 million spent during the current 2007-08 budget year.
Mikeska said the district has no plans to raise taxes for the upcoming school year. The proposed tax rate will match the effective tax rate of $1.23 per $100 valuation. Last year’s tax rate was $1.24 per $100 valuation.About $33.2 million, or 55 percent, of the proposed budget will go to teaching and instruction, an increase over 2007-08’s $32.9 million. The next highest proposed budget expenditure is for maintenance and operations, which will receive $6.6 million in funding.
Among the proposed staff and campus funding reductions:
nCut administrative position for the school year, saving $45,000.
n Cut the position of social studies coordinator, saving $66,000.
n Reduced funding to unspecified Temple High School and Scott Elementary programs, saving $85,000.
n Reduced fine arts funding at Meridith-Dunbar Elementary, saving $6,000.
n Reduced funding to the Wheatley Alternative Education Center, saving $25,000.
n Cut an administrative position at Lamar Middle School, saving $60,000.
n Reduced full-time special education positions, saving $160,000.
The district will also reduce its number of paraprofessional positions, saving an estimated $120,000. There is a total of $756,418 in staff reductions proposed in the budget.
“Our special education enrollment is down, so we were able to look at not replacing several full-time positions that are open,” Mikeska said.
Mikeska said the reduction in positions and reduction in funding would not impact the quality of the district’s curriculum to students.
“We are not sacrificing any level of instruction or limiting the number of students we can serve,” Mikeska said.
Mikeska also said the district would not be eliminating any programs, although some will receive less funding next year.
Among staffing expense changes, it was proposed to increase paid employee health care by $156,000 during the 2008-09 year to make up for rising insurance premiums.
“Rising health care costs are a problem for employers and employees across the country, not just school districts,” Mikeska said.
To help reduce payroll costs, district administrators will receive a 2 percent pay raise, less than an originally proposed 3 percent raise, for the upcoming year. Mikeska said that the money would be shifted into teacher cost-of-living adjustments, which will be set at $1,000 for the school year, over an originally proposed $750.
Mikeska said he spoke to administrators about the raise reduction, and they agreed that it “was more important for the teachers to receive higher raises.”
“I’m very proud of the way we were able to talk with our staff members and work out a way to shift money around,” Mikeska said.
The proposed budget would also cut about $1.2 million in operational costs, including:
n $450,000 in capital improvement financing.
n $142,000 in transportation operations.n $10,000 in athletics professional development.
n $20,000 in unspecified athletics funding.
n $50,000 in unspecified contingencies.
n $150,000 in campus operational reductions.
n $370,000 in unspecified funding.
Mikeska said the district is facing a rise in food, transportation and utility costs, but will be able to shift money even after the budget has been amended if needed.
“Rising fuel costs are hard to project,” Mikeska said. “Because of the way the economy is right now, it’s hard to gauge how costs will be next month - it’s nearly impossible to estimate where they will be at six months from now.”
Mikeska said the district will increase fuel funding by 29 percent, from $366,080 in 2007-08 to $471,548 this year.
He also estimated that food costs will be up 12 to 15 percent for the district for the 2008-09 school, which the district plans on alleviate by increasing student breakfast and lunch costs between 10 and 20 cents.
“Working on this budget was a long process,” Dr. Robin Battershell, working on her first budget as TISD superintendent, said. “It’s a good budget, but it’s not a perfect budget.”
Mikeska said TISD officials began working on the budget last December.
“Obviously we’re going to have to take a look at what we can do in the future to try to increase funding and cut costs,” said Dr. Battershell, who brought up district spending on credit cards and cellular phone costs.
Dr. Battershell said she’d like to review staff compensation and pay grades in the future in an attempt to improve on them.
“We want to make sure our district pays its employees fairly and takes care of them in terms of benefits,” Dr. Battershell said. “When it comes to luring the best candidates for positions, it’s important to let them know that you take care of your own.”
For the 2008-09 school year, new teachers will start at $37,250, while all experienced teachers will receive a salary bump, on top of the district’s cost of living adjustment. The Texas required minimum-starting salary for teachers without experience is $27,320.
The proposed 2008-09 TISD budget will be brought before board members at their June 24 meeting, where they will have the option to adopt it.
Tuesday’s meeting was the final session among several budget workshops the district has held.
