By Shelley Kofler, KERA News
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/kera/local-kera-955154.mp3
Dallas, TX – Tonight Fort Worth School Superintendent Melody Johnson will outline some specific recommendations for cutting the school district budget. KERA's Shelley Kofler has more.
Superintendent Johnson will present school board trustees with plans for reducing travel and car allowances; teacher-student staffing ratios and for pre-kindergarten.
A superintendent's spokesman could not provide specifics of the plans but says funding cuts for everything are on the table.
Lawmakers proposing massive cuts in state education spending have suggested districts consider increasing class size to cut costs. One legislative proposal calls for eliminating all state money for pre-K.
That would devastate Fort Worth's full-day, pre-kindergarten program which has been in place for 25 years. The state provides two-thirds of its funding.
Superintendent Johnson says she'll also outline a plan for scaling back but not canceling terminal pay. That's a one-time bonus check district employees receive when retiring. The size of the "terminal" check depends upon years of service and has been offered for more than than 40 years to keep good employees from leaving the district.