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Budget Cuts for Hazelwood School District Draw Criticism from Parents, Teachers
Parents, teachers and others jammed the Hazelwood School District School Board meeting Wednesday night to voice opposition to the administration’s recently announced plan to reduce the budget over the next several years. Most of the opposition concerned cutbacks in elementary band/orchestra and the plan to have only one physical education class per month.
The board room holds around 160, but it was packed to capacity and another estimated 300 or more stood in an overflow space behind the board room. Earlier in the day teachers held signs in front of the administration building on New Halls Ferry Road, protesting the cutbacks, which include teacher position reductions.
Some voiced the opinion that the board should have moved the meeting to a larger facility. The board and school officials sought to calm fears over the budget cuts and had announced earlier that a new committee will look into and study district needs for the 2017-18 budget.
The administration’s current year budget shows a shortfall of nearly $15 million, which officials said is primarily due to declining property values (about 22 percent). When comparing 2014-15 revenue raised from property taxes there was $15.7 million less than what was collected in 2008-09, which is one reason for the shortfall, a spokesman said. Teacher and staff raises over the last several years have also contributed to the shortfall, the board contends.
It is projected that the school district will begin the 2016-17 school year with a $12.7 million operating deficit. Interim Supt. Ingrid Clark-Johnson defended the cuts. The board feels the only way to immediately reduce this deficit is through a combination of reducing expenditures and raising revenue.
District administrators have eliminated positions through attrition for the last eight years to address projected revenue shortfalls. To protect the instructional programs, the district has been using reserves to cover operation deficits for the last three years, the board announced a week earlier. At the end of year, the unreserved fund balance will be down to the minimum amount allowed per district policy.
Board Announced Cutbacks
The school district listed some of the approved reductions, to include:
- Reduce the central office budget by more than $900,000.
- Eliminate central office positions.
- Eliminate professional development and tuition reimbursement for administrators.
- Eliminate four band/orchestra positions from elementary level before school and during the day. The school district will provide after-school music instruction when possible.
- Eliminate 13 physical education positions (elementary and high school levels).
- Eliminate field trips.
- Restructure the alternative education program.
- Reduce high school athletic/activity fund by 10%.
- Reduce high school extra duty contracts and benefits by 10%.
- Reduce per student allocations – high school and middle school.
- Eliminate a warehouse position (one by attrition).
- Eliminate 25% of the custodial positions.
- Institute a community building usage fee in 2016-17.
These savings total approximately $6.6 million, according to district officials. The district will continue to review its operations for efficiencies and future expenditure reductions in order to balance the operating budget, the district spokesman said in a press release a week earlier.
