http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4230404/ HISD Faces $30 Million Budget CutClick2Houston.com Updated: 3:15 p.m. ET Feb. 10, 200410:02 a.m. CST February 10, 2004 - The Houston Independent School District faces a $30 million budget cut after the state slashed funds for the third year in a row. "We are literally scratching the bottom of the barrel now, saying where can we come up with $30 million that will have as little impact as we can on schools. At the same time, we are saying to the Legislature, "Guys, we need the help,'" HISD spokesman Terry Abbott said. The state plans on funding 13 percent of the district's cost in the 2004-2005 school year, leaving taxpayers the burden of paying for 87 percent. District leaders told News2Houston they plan to cut from school support systems, meaning everything from facilities management to central office positions and police. The district has steadily slashed its budget since 2001. The proposed cuts were: 2001-2002 -- $2.2 million 2002-2003 -- $40 million 2003-2004 -- $117.3 million If the $28.7 million proposed cut for the 2004-2005 school year is passed, HISD will have decreased its budget by $190 million in four years. On Thursday, administrators will ask the school board to approve early retirement for more than 200 non-teaching employees and severance packages for others. "We have to find $30 million in a pretty small piece of the pie in order to not affect schools. That unfortunately means some people will lose their jobs. We are going to have to eliminate positions in order to do this," Abbott said. The 2004-2005 budget must be adopted by June. HISD Cleans House With Online Surplus Sale HISD will clean house, starting Tuesday, Feb. 10, by putting a lot of its surplus inventory for sale online. A few of the items being offered are office furniture, computers, automobiles and pianos.
The <b>Republican-dominated</b> House voted Tuesday to make Utah the first state to scrap No Child Left Behind Act education mandates that would cost more than the federal government is willing to pay. Republicans dropped a threat to abandon the Bush administration program altogether because that would have cost the state half of its annual federal education funding, or nearly $107 million. Instead, state representatives voted 64-8 to comply with only those mandates "where there is adequate federal funding." http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tm.../ap/20040211/ap_on_re_us/no_child_left_behind
Having seen first hand the effects of budget cuts in public schools, reading this pisses me off to no end. It basically says to me that quality of education is second to whatever it is we're spending all the money on. What are we spending the money on? In a perfect world, people would COMPETE for positions on teaching staffs. It would be a prestigious occupation and they would have all the funding they want as long as they got the job done.
We have to cut education spending, can't have money going to terrorists. http://apnews.myway.com/article/20040223/D80T5VUO0.html Rod Paige Criticizes Teachers Union Feb 23, 3:17 PM (ET) By ROBERT TANNER WASHINGTON (AP) - Education Secretary Rod Paige called the nation's largest teachers union a "terrorist organization" during a private White House meeting with governors on Monday. Democratic and Republican governors confirmed Paige's remarks about the National Education Association. "These were the words, 'The NEA is a terrorist organization,'" said Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle of Wisconsin. "He was making a joke, probably not a very good one," said Democratic Gov. Ed Rendell of Pennsylvania. "Of course he immediately divorced the NEA from ordinary teachers, who he said he supports." "I don't think the NEA is a terrorist organization," said Rendell, who has butted heads with the group as well. "They're not a terrorist organization any more than the National Business Organization is a terrorist organization. . . .
On a sidenote, I was listening to the news on the way in, and they were saying that the govenors' meeting referenced in the article would be the start of the Bush's campaign.
Maybe instead of cutting back, HISD should look into raising their tax rate to be in line with other Harris County school districts. Their own budget takes pride in HISD having the lowest tax rate of the Harris County school districts, perhaps it's time to reconsider that as a plus.
What are we spending the money on? One of the things we spend money on is subsidizing lies that were claimed to be "intelligence" from our man in Iraq, Chalabi. The guy is even admitting that he lied to us and we still pay him. The bill for Iraq is over $250 billion; that is 8000 times the HISD shortfall. I'll let someone detail how many thousand times the Bush tax cut for the weatlhy exceeds the HISD shortfall. Oh well, the Bushes sent their kids to private schools, so I don't think they care about the issue.
Why all the hand-wringing here? All the important Houstonians will be able to afford good private schools, right? And what did you think "no child left behind" meant, anyway? It mean no K-8 child will go unaffected by budget cuts, and no high school child will go unaffected by spending all of their non-school hours in a low-wage service job.
I would think that since the vast majority of the HISD budget comes from local property taxes, the things they're spending the money on would, by and large, be local stuff. The state makes up the next biggest part of the HISD budget, and they don't directly fund the CIA or the war in Iraq, either. Most of what they spend their money on is state-related stuff. As a matter of fact, judging by the original article in this thread, the Feds don't pay for anything at HISD directly (though, in reality, the Feds do fund part of the HISD budget. They even increased their part over 16% from the 2002-2003 year to the 2003-2004 year). It is interesting to me that the HISD had to cut $117 million out of the budget for 2003-2004. According to the budget on the HISD website, the HISD collected slightly more money for the 2003-2004 school year than they did in 2002-2003. If they needed to cut $117 million, it's because they added nearly $117 million somewhere else over the year before. According to the Budget "at a glance" on the HISD website, for the 2002-2003 school year, they received $1,283,152,036 in general fund revenues. For 2003-2004, they received $1,284,714,496. That, to me, looks like $1.56 million more in 2003-2004. There are very few agencies or anything else that can increase expenses nearly 10% and not expect to have to make it up somewhere else. You can't expect taxes to increase nearly 10% per year to make it up, especially since the tax base value only increased roughly 2.7%. The district growth (roughly 1,000 students more in 2003 over 2002, or roughly half a percent) shouldn't necessitate a nearly 10% growth in the budget.
This has nothing to do with anything...The war in Iraq is Defense Spending, not education...I for one am glad SH is out of power... Bush's tax cut were for everyone...I myself received a check and have benefitted in the 03' tax period and will again benefit in 04'... I went to public school, but if I had more money, I'd send my kids to private schools to have them receive a better education where teachers compete to teach and the job is a well regarded, higher paying occupation...
Yes, because the difference between $6,200 per student and $6,000 per student in per pupil spending is the difference between an educated populace and one full of dumbasses. Why aren't you guys down at HISD meetings demanding a property tax increase? HISD taxes are the lowest in Harris County, surely there is some room to go up, especially if all these new expenses are so very necessary to educating the students and the HISD budget is cut to the bone and only spends what is absolutely necessary to educate the students. Of course, if they need to cut $28 million for the coming year, I suggest getting rid of extracurriculars. Then they'd also have another $10 million or so left over to put into direct education. Personally, I can't believe bilingual servies cost over $18 million alone, nearly four times what they spend on accelerated education, though I guess in a district that's half Hispanic, you'd expect a large outlay for bilingual services.
