Number Crunch

Manatee County School Board members were expected to sign off on either $11 million or $17 million in cuts to the Manatee County School District’s roughly $644 million budget last week.

Instead, they wrangled over whether to give some employees a 1% salary cut or force them to take furlough days, among other concerns, and sent Superintendent Tim McGonegal back to devise a new budget recommendation — one with about $14 million in cuts.

“These are tough decisions,” McGonegal said. “Now, we’re talking about everybody’s salaries.”

In the last three years, the district has cut $46 million from its operating budget and needs to cut at least an additional $11.16 million this year.

This year’s proposed cuts include $2.165 million in reductions in district office positions and staff; $1.2 million in reduced utility costs district-wide; $1.5 million in reductions by lowering salaries through retirements; and $240,000 with the elimination of elementary school resource officers, among other provisions. The district will go from outsourcing 50% of its maintenance to about 70% over the next three years.

“We’re doing all the things we really need to do,” McGonegal said of utilizing best practices.

The $700,000 in cuts to schools the superintendent is proposing equates to about a $10,500 reduction per elementary school, $14,700 reduction per middle school and $30,800 reduction per high school.

McGonegal said the reductions will have a definite impact on schools, but reducing teacher pay — the alternative — would have worse consequences, especially considering teachers already will be paying more for health insurance and are being required to contribute 3% to the state for retirement starting in August.

School board member Julie Aranibar, an East County resident, said the board has not had a workshop to discuss proposed budget items and she was not ready to take action on the proposal last week.

“We’re at a point in our community (that) if we’re being asked to make sacrifices, then we need to have full accountability and transparency in the process,” Aranibar said.

“In the last five years, we’ve added departments and people we didn’t have before,” she said, noting pay increases for downtown administrative-type positions have increased far more quickly than teacher pay. “Are we sure we need them? Shouldn’t we be absolutely sure of whom we need (before we do furloughs and cut pay)?”

Aranibar received the line-item budget — all 350 pages — late last week for review, after requesting it from the superintendent several times.

A budget workshop has been scheduled for board members at 9 a.m., July 8.

A budget must be adopted by the school board by July 27.

Contact Pam Eubanks at [email protected].

THE DRAWING BOARD
Superintendent Tim McGonegal has been tasked with eliminating $14 million from the budget. He likely will integrate prior plans — one eliminating $11 million and another $17 million — to come up with the number and may use a combination of salary cuts and furlough days.

THE $11 MILLION PLAN
(These cuts likely will be part of McGonegal’s recommendation.)
District office re-organization savings — $2.165 million
Reduced utilities costs district-wide — $1.5 million
On-time Retirement Incentive Savings — $150,000
Charter Schools share of reduction in FEFP — $2.2 million
Outsourcing of custodians (total) — $394,800
School media budget reduction — $55,000
School Improvement Plan budget reduction — $48,250
School cuts — $700,000
Modify delivery service for hospital/homebound students — $350,000
Decrease board-provided life insurance — $253,500
Furlough days — $1.91 million

PREVIOUS CUTS
The Manatee County Public School District has reduced its budget by $46 million in the last three years. The following is a list of reductions and savings.

2008/2009
• Cut 65 positions from the District level — $3.4 million
• Expanded District Energy Plan — $1.4 million
• Discontinued DROP extension — $58,000
• Eliminated cell phones except for safety sensitive positions — $15,000
• Reduced the cost of middle school athletics — $50,000
• Eliminated reading coaches — $690,000
• No step increase in 2008-09 — $3 million
• Salary reduction for all employees — $2.3 million
• Cut 66 positions from schools — $5 million

2009/2010
• Cut 42 positions from district level — $3.6 million
• Changed Duette to a contract site — $120,000
• Reduced the funding for field trips — $140,000
• Established a new pay scale for teachers returning to work after DROP — $400,000
• Eliminated use of Pinnacle for elementary schools —$10,000
• Implemented an application fee for new hires. — $10,000
• Reduced by 50% special allocations for magnet schools —$60,000
• Reduced the purchase of Voyager Instructional materials — $300,000
• Attempt to sell or lease the PIC center —$80,000
• Discontinued Stanford testing for grade 1 — $100,000
• Reduced the cost of out of county travel for employees — $170,000
• Eliminated one basic aide at each elementary school — $370,000
• Delayed the textbook reading adoption purchase —$1 million

2010/2011
• Eliminated 17 positions at the district level — $1.06 million
• New staff attorney took on more cases and reduced dependence on outside counsel — $150,000
• E-payables function generated annual rebate — $100,000