By Ben Philpott, KUT News
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/kera/local-kera-969106.mp3
Dallas, TX –
Texas school districts know the Legislature will spend less on public education, but they still don't know by how much. KUT News' Ben Philpott tells how that uncertainty affects local school district budgets.
Just like the Texas Legislature, school districts have deadlines to meet in setting budgets for the fall.
Jackie Lane: "Yes there's some very important deadlines that are fast approaching actually."
Jackie Lane heads up the governmental relations department at the Texas Association of School Boards or TASB(tahs-bee). She says the vast majority of school districts won't set their budgets until the middle of August. That would give them time to figure out how to spend their resources, even if lawmakers end up using a July special session to hammer out education funding. But about 150 districts, including Houston, Fort Worth and Georgetown, set their budget in the middle of June. Brad Domitrovich is with Georgetown ISD.
Brad Domitrovich: "Well what would happen is they would adopt the budget as they normally would. And then if there were any changes that needed to be done they would just amend that budget once we got more information from the state."
Georgetown, like most school districts, has already proposed staff layoffs and other reductions in anticipation of funding cuts from the state. But Domitrovich says having to make a second round of cuts, or scramble to rehire teachers just days before the school year begins, would be problematic.
Brad Domitrovich: "We're in very prosperous times within our district with a bond passing and expansion and more kids coming. Then to have to deal with this, it's very difficult for everybody to handle."
And it's not just state funding that's keeping school decisions on hold. Republican lawmakers are trying to pass a bill that would remove certain education mandates, like the current 22-to-one student teacher class size cap. TASB's Jackie Lane.
Jackie Lane: "You know people are not linking these two issues but they are inextricably linked. If you're laying off teachers, you're going to have to increase your class sizes."
If that bill doesn't pass, many school districts that made personnel decisions anticipating a larger allowed class size will have to go back to the drawing board.
Reporting for KUT News, I'm Ben Philpott.