Now that St. Louis Public Schools Superintendent Kelvin Adams has presented his budget proposal to the Special Administrative Board that runs the district, it’s the public’s turn to voice its opinion.
Through May 16, people may post comments on the district’s website, www.slps.org, about the proposed budget plan, which includes closing three schools, transforming others and, for the following school year, possibly turning Sumner High School into a charter school sponsored by the district.
Comments will also be heard at a public forum on at 6:30 p.m. Monday, May 9 at Vashon High School. The SAB is expected to vote on the budget – and according to Rick Sullivan, head of the board, pass the budget – at its meeting May 26.
Highlights from the plan, which Adams titled “Creating Great Options,” include:
* A reduction in 171 positions, including 10 in central office, 20 safety officers, 108 teachers, 20 librarians and 13 others. The reductions do not necessarily mean layoffs because Adams said at this point, 262 people are expected to leave, including 112 continuing substitute teachers, 107 whose contracts will not be renewed and 43 retirements
Depending on how the departures match up with the positions to be eliminated, Adams said, there may or may not have to be involuntary layoffs. Of the 107 people whose contracts will not be renewed, 14 are teachers, most of whom had not completed their probationary period and did not have tenure.
In his presentation, Adams noted that several local school districts have had a similar reduction in the number of positions, from East St. Louis to Ladue and Francis Howell.
* The proposed budget would be $272.8 million, including a $3 million surplus. That is down from $278.7 million in the current year. A chart comparing the sources of funding for the school system from the 2006-07 school year to the projected budget for next year showed sharp reductions in money from the state – $133.6 million to 56.3 million – while federal dollars rose slightly and local money dropped.
Adams noted that over the past two years, the district has cut spending by $60 million, as revenue and enrollment declined.
“In recent years,” he said in a statement that accompanied the budget submission, “we have focused on stabilizing academics, stabilizing finances and stabilizing governance. SLPS will end FY 2011 with a balanced budget, consistent leadership and improving academic achievement.
* Changes in school structure include the closing of Stevens Middle School, Bunche Middle School and Big Picture High School. Bunche eighth-graders will move to Compton Drew, while Stevens students will go to Cole, L’Ouverture or Yeatman. Big Picture students will be reassigned to magnet, choice, neighborhood and comprehensive schools.
In addition, single-sex classrooms will be introduced at Woerner elementary and Yeatman middle schools; an African-centered curriculum will be introduced at Cole school, which will go from K-6 to K-8; and Des Peres, Madison, Stevens and Meda P. Washington schools will re-open with a multiple pathways curriculum. Beaumont will become a technical high school.
One feature of the budget that prompted the most discussion is a move by the district from a system where individual school budgets are based on staff to one based on the allocation of money. Principals will be given a certain amount of money to run their schools and will be given autonomy to decide staffing and other priorities.
Sullivan, head of the SAB, expressed a concern about whether principals are going to have enough training to handle such a role; Adams said the principals would attend several sessions to make sure they knew how to move into the new system.
Even with school closings and the departure of some teachers, the district said it would maintain student-teacher ratios that fall below the minimum standards set by the state of Missouri. SAB member Richard Gaines said class size is an area where the board has made a strong commitment.
“We are not moving on that, even if we have to go into deficit,” Gaines said. “That is sacrosanct.”
Reprinted with permission and edited from a story that first appeared on www.stlbeacon.org.