Rex asks for an additional $209M
Education superintendent: Cuts, freezes still likely
COLUMBIA — The state's top educator urged legislative budget writers Tuesday to save South Carolina's already struggling public schools by restoring money for instruction instead of cutting it.
Jim Rex, superintendent of education, asked a House Ways and Means subcommittee for at least $209 million more in the upcoming spending plan to help the Department of Education recover from an unprecedented level of mid-year budget cuts during the last six months.
Coping with budget cuts
The Department of Education detailed ways it has dealt with $334 million cut from its budget mid-year, ordered because of falling state revenue collections. Here is a look at some of the ways the agency made the cuts:
• Canceled plans to purchase new buses.
• Scaled back assistance to low-performing schools by as much as $90,000 per school.
• Cut back on textbook purchases.
• Capped participation in a program that helps career-changers enter the teaching profession and started charging a fee for admission.
• Required all agency workers to take five days of unpaid leave.
• Implemented a hiring freeze; 95 positions are currently vacant.
• Froze raises for good job performance or new duties.
• Suspended pay ladder boosts for bus mechanics that successfully reduced turnover rates from 29 percent to 5 percent.
• Reduced grants for local school districts.
• Suspended loans for classroom teachers seeking National Board Certification.
Even if the Legislature is able to restore that money, Rex said he would still have to consider freezing teacher salaries, cutting hourly rates for bus drivers and pushing aside plans to open more 4-year-old kindergarten classrooms. It would take $209 million more just to meet the law's requirement for base student funding.
Economic turmoil has led to a devastating drop in state revenue collections, and economic advisers aren't expecting the situation to turn around by July 1, when the new fiscal year begins. Any dollar shifted to the Education Department would mean an equal cut to another government program in the upcoming $6.3 billion budget that is being drafted now.
"I understand we have to cut, cut, cut but that is not the long-term solution," Rex said.
The Education Department started the current fiscal year with a $2.4 billion budget, but mid-year budget cuts
have taken away $334 million. Most of those cuts are passed on directly to the districts, as 96 percent of school funding flows through the state agency.
Rex said freezing teacher salaries is certainly not ideal, but such a move would ease pressure on the districts and could save jobs in the classroom. Districts could continue to supplement the state's average salary.
"We're asking teachers to take it on the chin for one year," Rex said.
That request is tied to Rex's underlying appeal to the Legislature, which is to give the Education Department and individual districts temporary freedom from state mandates that exceed federal ones. The agency was given similar flexibility earlier this decade when the economy was in a slowdown.
More flexibility could allow districts to institute four-day weeks and extend school days while shortening the year. Decisions also could be made at the local level to determine what services should be offered or cut, such as classes for talented students or technical assistance for at-risk schools.
Granting such a request could be a positive and negative for Lowcountry school districts. Brantley Thomas, executive director of finance for Berkeley County schools, said officials would be able to decide where they wanted to spend state money, but programs and schools would suffer. He cited the roughly $900,000 for gifted and talented programs and the estimated $1.2 million to reduce class sizes as examples of programs using state money that could disappear while the redirected money goes to the district's core needs.
Previous story
Budget likely to be cut again; Local school districts likely to feel brunt, published 01/06/09
"In a sense, it's good, and in another sense, it's going to be difficult to get that past parents and teachers and the state as a whole that's tied to those programs," Thomas said. He estimated that Berkeley schools will be facing an up to $18 million shortfall next year.
Rex's proposals Tuesday weren't met with any decisions by the subcommittee or much commentary by the four legislators on the panel. The meeting is the first stage in the Legislature's long budget-writing process.
Among other aspects of the proposals, the Education Department:
• Could reduce the average $8 an hour pay for bus drivers to absorb additional budget cuts now and into the next fiscal year.
• Asked for $42 million more for next year's budget to maintain and fuel buses.
• Requested permission to allow higher-paid Education Department employees to take mandatory furloughs to spare lower-paid workers the loss.
• Abandoned a request for $72 million to expand early childhood programs to 27,000 at-risk students. Instead, the agency requested $28 million to maintain skeleton programs already in place.
• Backed off a request for $15 million to increases salaries for school nurses.
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Comments
whome (anonymous) says...
Where are the cuts for the administrators? Berkeley County just announced that the Superintendent makes close to $200K, yet bus drivers will be making less than $8/hour.
Unfortunately, the hackneyed argument to justify the ridiculous administrative salaries is that the districts must pay to retain top talent. I heard the same crap from the bankers. What you need a $80M bonus to crash a bank? And we need to pay administrators how much to finish last in education.
Pay teachers more, administrators less.
January 7, 2009 at 1:14 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
theronce (anonymous) says...
The legislature cuts the bucks to the education business. Then, to make sure that the tax payer is punished, the school industry administrators cut the classrooms, kids and teachers, first and only to show how bad the public and its servants are. The school industry needs to do away with the high priced administrators as the second step to progress. The first step is to stop taking the federal money, so the teachers can do it right.
January 7, 2009 at 7:09 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
capnphil (anonymous) says...
"Take it on the chin for one year." Where's proof that will occur? We have been taking it on the chin since getting into the profession, one of the most underpaid, under appreciated professions which indeed, really does the most good in society. How do you justify a 200 grand, a 150 grand salary, heck - 100 grand, when teachers are typically the most insulated, unmonitored, unsupervised lot in the field and still manage to keep most kids safe and learning through most of their school age years without any assistance from administrators? I say to all teachers, QUIT for one year, really take it on the chin, and see where that leads society. You will find out real quick how appreciated you really are.
January 7, 2009 at 7:36 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
dawhetsell (anonymous) says...
Put the blame on school funding on who has been wasting it for the last 75 years. When the Democrats wre in charge we kept spending money for all the pet projects and had one of the highest dropout rates. Then the Republicans were put in charge they increased spending, built more new schools, gave school administrators fat raises each year and we are still first in dropout rates. This shows none of them know what they are doing. They try and teach every language in the world to the children . When I went to School it was Spanish,French or Latin. The schools have hundreds of special programs, lets get back to the basics. The S.C.Dept. of Education spends millions of dollars in Columbia in there offices on high priced people who educate no one, shut it down, send the people out to teach or find other jobs and spend the money in the schools. Let the State do all the funding for school so each child will get the same. Take all property taxes out of school funding, put a flat fee to every person in the State on a tax bill to be filed with your income taxes. Everyone must file ( $ times the number of people in your house). Consolidate to one school district in each county. There should be one princpal in each school, they have one Sect. and each district has one Administrator and a Sect. These Administrators answer to a board of Legislators in charge of Education. Finally hold the Parents responsable for their children. People say they want CHANGE, all they really want is more handouts from the people who work and pay taxes.
January 7, 2009 at 9:03 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
dawhetsell (anonymous) says...
" Jim Rex, superintendent of education, asked a House Ways and Means subcommittee for at least $209 million more in the upcoming spending plan to help the Department of Education recover from an unprecedented level of mid-year budget cuts during the last six months."
This is like saying ,we know the economy is bad but we don't want to tighten our belts like everyone else,we want $209 million more, even if you stick it to the taxpayers who are in the same bad economy.
"In a sense, it's good, and in another sense, it's going to be difficult to get that past parents and teachers and the state as a whole that's tied to those programs," Brantley Thomas, executive director of finance for Berkeley County schools said.
If the parents,teachers and the State want more,let them pay extra out of their pockets as fees. The taxpayers are broke. Many have lost their retirement checks,401ks and people have lost their jobs or put to part time. Don't ask the taxpayers for more they are broke too. The schools have needed to do other thinks for a long time.
January 7, 2009 at 9:03 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
guidedbystewart (anonymous) says...
johnny hopeless,
Sounds like you want to do away with public education all together? So what is your plan? I know, I know, private schools to the people that can afford it and to hell with everyone else. Maybe if we just fix the poor people (code for minorities), they will not have more babies and then our problem is eliminated! Right Sherlock! Then we will have no more poor people, Problem Solved!
Man, johnny, you did not know I was a mind reader!
January 7, 2009 at 9:11 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
guidedbystewart (anonymous) says...
PRSISBEST,
I concur that private schools do work, but why do you think that they work or better yet, what advantages do private schools have over public schools?
Here are a few good reasons that they do:..
Smaller class sizes
More parental involvement
And last but not least, private schools have the right to refuse admission or/and kick out nonperformers, apathetic participates, mentally challenged, trouble makers, etc.
While private schools are a great option for people that can afford it, not everybody can. We are still responsible to educate the masses, which is much more of a challenge than what private schools face. If we do not take this challenge seriously, we will have an uneducated workforce, more people incarcerated, and so on.
Either way, it is necessary that the masses receive the best education available, period.
January 7, 2009 at 9:55 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
AFWally (anonymous) says...
Numb Nuts won't get the $209 million, the Governor will squash it. He may get some of it. If we are at the bottom of the barrel, then Administrator's need a huge pay cut...making 200K a year to fail is plain bullsheet. This whole mess has to go away soon, we are now recruiting Asians, Europeans, Indians etc. to work in our technology arena, i.e. aerospace, weapons systems, NASA etc. Taiwan students for example, of all grade levels have a very heavy math, science and engineering instruction daily. How can we keep pace with failure? We need change now, start by firing non performing Administrator's, and cut salaries to reality, give teachers a raise and ensure a decent salary, and the tools and equipment necessary to progress their students. Teachers have taken the brunt far to long and have had their azzes kicked enough.
January 7, 2009 at 10:16 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
wjhamilton3 (anonymous) says...
We have good public schools in Mt. Pleasant, with test scores that prove it.
January 7, 2009 at 10:27 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
UrGatorbait (anonymous) says...
If the money actually went to educating the kids, than yeah, be the squeaky wheel.
January 7, 2009 at 11:03 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
allaneddie (anonymous) says...
What did we expect, going from property taxes to sales taxes to support our schools? Sales tax income is the first to go down when the economy tanks.
January 7, 2009 at 11:12 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
mac0cm4 (anonymous) says...
How about charge the parents $50/mo for all the months they drive their kids to school and do not use the bus provided at taxpayer expense. Help defray that expense. I've no problem paying for schools (and busses!) but have a problem when something I help pay for isn't utilized (and also have a problem sitting in the traffic the non-usage of busses creates).
January 7, 2009 at 12:25 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
AAE (anonymous) says...
I am so tired of the whining about teacher salaries! There are teachers out there who don't want you to know that they make excess of $50K and sometimes $60K / year for 9 months of work. That's MORE than the BULK of those administrators that everyone blames for soaking up the money. Not all, but most.
January 7, 2009 at 12:27 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
yird (anonymous) says...
Mt. Pleasant feels threatened by possible loss of distinction as the Camelot of South Carolina, to the upstart Daniel Island.
Can increases in funding to the education department be used to head of this disaster?
Maybe a charter, military, boot camp, special needs, trade, magnet school is all that is needed to put Mt.Pleasant back in it's rightful place as the states leader in intelligentsia.
Makes as much sense as any of the other moronic things our tax for (no) education dollars are wasted on.
Why is it that the low quality product coming out of the school system is always blamed on lack of funds?
Any other failing industry gets accused of mismanagement, corruption, frivolous spending on perks, or overall lackluster performance of the workforce.
But education? Speaking of those afore mentioned sins is heresy when addressing the terrible performance of the education system.
Just pay more money MR/MS Taxpayer, everything will be a fine!
Like Joe The Mouth Biden says, its patriotic.
January 7, 2009 at 12:43 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
desspec (anonymous) says...
End busing, free breakfasts and lunches for starters.
January 7, 2009 at 12:59 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
yird (anonymous) says...
Hey PRS or is it PMS? I like Mt Pleasant and have some fine acquaintances there (long time residents) but there has been in the past few years an influx of obnoxious self centered snobs that have moved to that area who consider themselves something special and it rubs us commoners the wrong way.
I had a house on Sullivan's Island back in the sixties when it was a great place to live. You couldn't pay me to live any where east of the Cooper these days.
January 7, 2009 at 1:09 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
yird (anonymous) says...
PRSISBEST; But like I said to that nice fellow BM and Postman...yankee go home!!! Yankee go home !!!
=========================================================
Due to the fact that your posts are so convoluted, (example( What in the devil would posses any man or woman to be me to Mt. Pleasant?) I'm not sure what you meant by the above comment as it pertains to me.
Care to clarify?
January 7, 2009 at 3:45 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
jsks (anonymous) says...
First, we should remove poor performing teachers. You have three years to improve. End of story.
Second, all the teachers that are left after a 3 year assessment, should immediately be given a 25% raise.
Third, the state should rethink its education funding formula and the money should be collected from all citizens and be distributed equally amongst school districts and base it on population numbers.
Fourth, we should give school administrators and principals more control of their schools and then expect more of them.
Fifth, to assess teacher and student performance we should continue testing our children using both formative and cognitive based assessments but we should also rely on alternative/complimentary assessments that give a more realistic picture of student gains and losses.
Sixth, we should invest heavily in teacher academies and treat our teachers like we treat our doctors and lawyers. Professional development, leadership training, tuition reimbursements, and financial incentives for student improvement.
Seventh, schools should hold open houses for the general public, twice a year, so average citizens can see where their hard earned tax money is going. Teachers and administrators will have the opportunity to speak directly to folks that live in the schools vicinity. Its kind of like voting, if there is an open house and you dont attend, you have no right to complain about your local school or education system.
Eighth, local businesses must take a more proactive approach to local K-12 schools and colleges. Today's students are tomorrow's line workers, factory floor managers, and nurses. MUSC, MeadWestvaco, BP, COFC should all have an active presence and relationship with the school district.
Ninth, Parents must take a more proactive role in their childs learning. If one parent or representative from the childs family doesn't show up for parent/teacher night, the school district should be notified and the family should be contacted immediately.
Tenth, I cannot think of number 10, but I am sure there is something we should do.
January 7, 2009 at 4:20 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
AFWally (anonymous) says...
Bottom line is "they" the numb nuts runnin' the show will do what they've always done.....nothing. The schools aren't going to improve, after 25 years we are still in the exact same place....in the wilderness of sheet.
January 7, 2009 at 4:36 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
moonpie (anonymous) says...
Hey good news ya'll Mississippi is #1 in teen pregnancy! Then Texas and New Mexico, we were not first. Can you believe it? Maybe we will move up in edumecation?
Hey but on the other hand the same species account for the majority of teen pregnacies, Black and Latino females. Sorry I re-read it as I read it! Seems like they got a little race going to see who can capture the top spot. Anchor babies or welfare babies, anchor babies or welfare babies??
Well just wanted to pass on the good news.
January 7, 2009 at 6:57 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
mgarose (anonymous) says...
I am one of those low people on the totum pole that work for the school dist. The pay cuts and salary freezes always seem to start with the lowest paid employees. this is not fair as of right now my bring home pay per month is less than 650. my rent alone is 500. yea my spouse works but just do the math. now cut my pay, where does that leave me and everyone that is doing the same thing I'm doing. If we get a cut in pay that would mean that a lot of us would lose money just to drive to work, then you will have people quiting because it would cost them money to work, we already don't have enough people to cover whats needed, drop the pay and they won't be able to hire anyone because who is going to pay money to work. Pay cuts should start with the highest paid. If the not willing to take one for the TEAM then they need not continue in that position. I know some adminitrators that own office buildings and properties through out the town they live in and some surrounding area, while others struggle just to keep what they are living in. Get a grip and put the pay cuts where they should be.
January 7, 2009 at 7:03 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
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