Shit. Another school district in Texas is cutting funds/teachers

[w8liftinglady]

my partner was telling me that DISD is cutting more staff and supplies next fiscal year.they are already at their student teacher max as is.(of course,in texasthere is no class size limit).
now I find out that Joe Barton's home county is cutting as well:

http://www.thedailylight.com/articles/2011/02/11/news/doc4d55cb95610d7765468710.txt

ENNIS – Ennis ISD Superintendent Barbara Qualls warned board trustees during their meeting Tuesday night of a potential multi-million cut in state funding.

“There’s universal bad news from Austin,” Qualls said, saying every district in the state has been assigned a maximum funding amount that will not be available to them.

“Our assigned amount is $6 million,” she said. “While I do not feel we can expect to be cut that much, we can expect some form of a cut in state funding,” Qualls said, noting the $6 million represents 20 percent of the EISD workforce.



Yeah- Texas loves kids.

[sakabatou]

1. It's another race to the bottom!

[ananda]

2. Austin is cutting 1000 positions.

About three quarters will be teachers.

They're consolidating a few schools too.

[w8liftinglady]

5. same with DISD about 950 teachers

F*ck the public school kids... especially in inner city schools in Dallas.

[Horse with no Name]

9. Bet they don't touch Highland Park. n/t

[w8liftinglady]

13. funny you should mention that...he brought up Turtle Creek...saying the same thing

South dallas... cut the crap out of it.far North dallas... ummm - not so much.

[Horse with no Name]

15. Not surprising.

The shared sacrifice is only for people who are used to having to share.
The elite? Well they don't play well in the sandbox and they don't share. And nobody is about to make them.

[cutlassmama]

18. Mommies don't like to give up their Pilates class while junior

is at school

[neverforget]

3. My daughters school district is cutting $10-15 million on top of the

$8 million last year.

[SheilaT]

4. Unfortunately, Texas is not the only

state where money to schools is being cut. It's happening almost everywhere, so far as I can tell.

[w8liftinglady]

6. the trend here is to start at the bottom(Teachers- school rehab)

[Lifelong Protester]

7. we are all going to be fighting for that bottom soon.

Have you noticed that NO GOVERNOR has said he or she wants to be the 'education governor'?

Come to Wisconsin. The fun and games are just beginning.

[w8liftinglady]

8. It makes absolutely NO sense. My partner and his co-workers are devastated.

They already donate a chunk of cash and time for these poor inner-city kids.
I hate this whole screwed-up values system that exists.

[Lifelong Protester]

16. I am with you. It is completely bizarro world now. And what they

(the states) won't do to demoralize teachers. We are devastated in Wisconsin too.
How can I ask teachers to donate anymore extra time to after school projects when what we do now is so devalued?

My sympathies are with you, and hope yours are with us.

Solidarity now.

[w8liftinglady]

19. solidarity is there...I will print my editor's column tomorrow for everyone...

he emailed me,asking me for an "opinion"
It was beautiful.
he is a republican... one of the good ones.

maybe they are seeing the light as well... the good ones.

[Hoopla Phil]

10. Property values are down people have less money, where can schools

get more money? It's not about love of kids, it's about there not being enough money.

some things

Why are all schools air conditioned? I was half way through middle school before seeing an air conditioned classroom.

Why do so many schools have multiple computers in every classroom now?

And the biggest question: When did it become necessary for every school Superintended to be a Phd?

The first places to start cutting of course would be at the top. AND unfortunately the way schools are designed now cutting off the A/C would not be smart as it would get too hot in those buildings. I'm just trying to put things into perspective. America has grown in wealth, that wealth is now shrinking, publicly provided facilities that rely on that wealth must shrink as well.

[texastoast]

11. I believe the wealth is getting privatized, rather than shrinking

And the wealth doesn't care about public schools. They don't have to.

[RandomThoughts]

12. Nobody has to care about anything. Most choose to care about many things.

It is a choice, how else could you exist?

[Hoopla Phil]

14. Texas schools get the bulk of their income from property taxes.

Doesn't matter what private person, group, or organization owns the property it has to pay taxes on it. The problem is that all those properties are going down in value. Hence less money into the schools.

[somone]

17. While school superintendents are getting raises and super-sized benefits:

http://www.kxan.com/dpp/news/investigations/kxan-investigates-super-salaries

...With Texas facing a multi-billion dollar budget shortfall, every school district is facing tough decisions. Some districts are considering closing schools and laying off teachers. So, why are some districts giving their superintendent raises and super-sized benefits? And do parents really know what their superintendent earns? Apparently, not. Martin Benavides and Mark Hoelscher were out fighting to keep their kids school from being closed and were shocked to learn what several local superintendents are being paid.

The base salary for Austin ISD superintendent, Meria Carstarphan makes $283,412 per year. Her district has more than 80,000 students. Round Rock ISD superintendent has more than 40,000 students, and its superintendents base salary is $252,875. Eanes ISD has about 7,500 students and its superintendents base salary is $231,063. "Absolutely doesn’t make sense," said Mark Hoelscher, when told of some of the perks awarded superintendents in addition to their base salaries. Said Benavides: "That's crazy. I think these kids are a lot more important than anyone’s salary."

Those salaries are just the beginning. Many superintendents are paid a car allowance. Superintendents in Austin, Leander and Georgetown school districts get $1,000 per month. But big car allowances aren't just a big district perk. Elgin ISD has six campuses. Its superintendent gets a car allowance of $661 per month. Bastrop ISD’s superintendent gets $650 per month, and LaGrange ISD’s car allowance is $550 per month for its top administrator. Even though Florence and Jarrell ISD have only three schools, their superintendents get a car allowance of $500 per month. So do Burnet, Liberty Hill, Dripping Springs ISD superintendents.

Car allowances are just the beginning when it comes to perks. Eanes ISD superintendent Nola Wellman gets about $70,000 in extra benefits added on to her $231,063 base salary. The district reimburses her for the amount she pays for her contribution to the Teacher Retirement System, which is approximately $40,000 per year. The district also pays the income and medicare tax on the extra pay. Wellman is paid $31,500 in an annuity account which increases $500 each year. Eanes pays $2,983 for premiums on a $560,000 life insurance policy. Wellman gets an additional $5,000 as an annual bonus and earlier this year, the Eanes Board of Trustees voted to pay her another $10,000 for expenses she doesn’t have to report or justify. The perks push Wellmans salary to more than $320,000...

[elehhhhna]

20. The jerk who's ruining Fort Bend ISD gets a bonus for actually

VISITING CAMPUSES.

He gets bonused for doing various aspects of the normal duties of his job...on top of a crazyhigh salary and perks.

[somone]

21. There is probably another bonus for tying his shoes correctly

and ANOTHER one for consistent performance in tying shoes

[Ezlivin]

22. "Texas is still the envy of the nation"

So saith Rick "Good Hair" Perry, the finest governor ever elected through corrupt gerrymandering.

[Hoopla Phil]

23. Use the Texas Open Records Act to get a copy of his contract.

Yep, you can do it. You may have to insist and point to them where in the TORA it says they have to do it but you can get it. Went through this in the late 80's. We actually found that the superintendent's membership and green's fees at the country club were paid by the school. CRAZY!

[elehhhhna]

24. it's published already. 350K value.