News from the Superintendent: March 29, 2010

March 29, 2010

Good afternoon.

Now that we’ve had a couple of days to reflect on it, I’m spending this week taking action on the district’s budget situation for next year. None of these upcoming decisions are going to be easy, but many of you offered prompt responses to the message I sent you on Friday, and a number of constructive suggestions for solving our problem crossed my desk. I would like to thank you for that.

After talking with the school board and the leadership team, no one likes the idea of layoffs and we will take a look at some alternatives. One we’re going to consider is increasing class sizes by 5 percent for all grades. It’s just one possible alternative we’re looking at. I haven’t laid anyone off in 12 years as a superintendent, but it’s going to take some real creativity to avoid that course now.

One of the things I’m adamant about is putting money into cash reserves for a rainy day. It may seem gloomy now, but trust me when I say we’re likely to face an even larger shortfall in fiscal year 2012 because federal stimulus funds go away next year. State law says we can keep up to 5 percent of our budget—$33 million, in our case—in reserves, but I’m only looking to save $15 million for now. We need to prepare for the future starting today.

There are certain parameters we have to work within. For example, the $616 million that voters approved in February may only be spent on capital projects and technology purchases. Those funds are provided by a public election and by law cannot be spent for other purposes. That is why those projects will go forward. Also, funds allocated by the legislature for new textbooks may only be used for that purpose.

I’m scheduled to meet with the teachers’ and educational assistants’ unions again today. We will continue to work together to find feasible solutions to our situation. All possibilities will be considered. As a result of all the feedback I’ve gathered, I will make another presentation to the school board at its next special meeting on Thursday.

We are engaged in a working process, and there may be no firm decisions made for another month or more. The board really has until the end of May before it has to approve the 2010-11 budget. All I can tell you is that this process will be as fair as we can make it. This is not just an APS issue; school districts, governments and businesses are all facing similar situations and we’ll do the best we can under very trying circumstances.

Have a good week.

Winston Brooks
Superintendent