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Brazosport ISD looking at staff cuts
Published May 19, 2009
CLUTE — As attendance declines, so does the amount of state funding Brazosport ISD gets — and as a result, the district’s staffing could drop as well.
School trustees will discuss eliminating several teaching positions for next school year at a special meeting set for 5 p.m. today.
After declaring a financial emergency last year, administrators are asking the school board to consider reducing staff, a reduction that could save the district about $1.4 million, Financial Director Dan Schaefer said.
The district has seen enrollment declining since Hurricane Ike. Since the state determines funding on a per-student basis, fewer students means less money, Assistant Superintendent Dennis McNaughten said. This year, the district has lost 260 students, Schaefer said.
That leaves Brazosport ISD with a projected $2 million deficit for fiscal year 2009-10, Schaefer said. The figure is determined by subtracting how much money the district expects to receive from how much the district expects to budget. If all staff eliminations are approved, the district still will be $600,000 in the red for next year, he said.
The suggestions for job eliminations were made after talking with principals at each campus, McNaughten said. Positions that could be eliminated include a kindergarten teacher at Jane Long Elementary, a sixth-grade math teacher at Clute Intermediate and a geography teacher at Brazoswood High School.
Administrators will try to eliminate positions without eliminating people, McNaughten said. Teachers in positions being eliminated could be moved to replace those who retire or choose not to return to the district, a normal occurence each school year, he said.
“School’s a business, but we know it’s made of people,” McNaughten said.
Last year, the district cut a net of more than 50 full-time or part-time positions, adding some and eliminating others or alternatively funding them through federal dollars, Schaefer said.
This saved the district $2.3 million; however, the continual loss of students has resulted in a continued decrease in the money Brazosport ISD receives, Schaefer said.
In addition, the district has to consider what could happen in the summer, he said. Many parents who have lost their jobs might have moved away and left their children to finish out the school year before withdrawing them in the summer, he said.
Administrators believe these cuts will have no effect on instruction because it will not increase the student-to-teacher ratio, McNaughten said.
“The district will not do anything to hurt children’s education,” he said. “But in tough economic times, hard decisions have to be made.”
The board will meet at the administration building, 301 W. Brazoswood Drive. For information, call (979) 730-7000.
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PROPOSED CUTS
ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS
S.F. Austin and Fleming: one net counseling position
Jane Long: one kindergarten, one second-grade teaching position
Gladys Polk and O.M. Roberts: one net special education teaching position
MIDDLE/INTERMEDIATE SCHOOLS
Lanier: one fifth-grade language arts and one bilingual teaching position
Rasco: one sixth-grade history teaching position
Clute: one sixth-grade math, half sixth-grade language arts and one computer literacy teaching position; half librarian position; one bilingual teaching position (Librarian retiring, converting position to split time between library duties and language arts)
Freeport: one seventh-grade science teaching position and one seventh-grade language arts teaching position
HIGH SCHOOLS
Brazosport: one Spanish, one math, one science, one construction trades and one homemaking teaching position; one intervention teaching position
Brazoswood: one marketing co-op, one world geography, one biology, one construction trades, one Spanish and one reading teaching position; one counselor position
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