Comments on: Board meets tonight to discuss budget cuts

By: cranky teacher

cranky teacher — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 19:52:13 +0000

I honestly don’t see a ton a fat from my perspective. People complain about downtown, but I’m not sure if you can get big money out of shaving some admin jobs.

I think you have to really think about freezing spending on some of the big ticket items: Facilities, textbooks, outside consultants.

I’m not saying those things aren’t important, but I think they are LESS essential than teacher retention, class size and support staff like counselors, nurses and extracurricular, pre-school and adult ed programs.

But then, I never really got the idea of seismic retrofitting for billions, creating mega-rich contractors, when the kids inside the building haven’t had a good meal that day, can’t read or do math and have had a string of substitutes “teaching” them all year.

The reality is, though, that the money is “bucketed” so that I imagine Smith’s hands are tied on a lot of the decisions. Facilities, for example, may be untouchable as “use-it-or-lose-it” monies.

By: TheTruthHurts

TheTruthHurts — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 17:56:32 +0000

I was halfway through a longer post and then realized, I agree with Harlemmoon. We should be taking a look at best practices and think long-term. We all know the state’s not going to have money next year either. Probably the same after that too. All Districts need to be thinking about how to weather the storm and position themselves for when the sun comes out again.

By: harlemmoon

harlemmoon — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 00:29:44 +0000

I’d start with an honest, comprehensive, district-wide assessment of every program, every school, every consultant and every other expenditure.
Rather than swinging an axe across the board, as many an administrator is wont to do, focus laser-like on the things that AREN’T working. These are the programs, people, etc., that should be done away with first. It makes little sense to toss out everything- particularly when some things actually DO work.
Next, fine-tune processes. That is, determine how the work of the district can be improved with an over-haul – one that typically involves fewer people as the process is streamlined and updated (making better use of technology).
Also, I’d look to other districts to determine best practices around budget tightening. Districts don’t operate in a vacuum; get out there and learn what strategies are being used to make smart decisions around expenditures, cutbacks, etc.