School Board Update July 2005

Greetings,

Several people have asked me if the School Board slows down in the summers. So far, I'd have to say definitely not. We're in the midst of some very difficult budget decisions and I've been working hard to understand the issues and make decisions that best protect the interests of the students. Below is a quick update on the budget and a few other issues. We will be meeting Monday to discuss and possibly vote on the budget. As always, I welcome your feedback.

Budget
As most of you know, we depend on the county government for our revenues. The County Mayor and County Commission determine the size of the pie, and the School Board has discretion over how the pie is sliced. 

The good news is that we received $15m over 3 years for physical plant upgrades and $2.5m for the Great Schools Partnership, which will initially go towards a new pre-school program. We've also made some progress in consolidating some services with the county such as payroll, telecommunication and lawn and grounds maintenance. The County also gave us $40m to build a new high school in West Knox County, but that is part of the capital, not operating budget.

For the operating budget Mayor Ragsdale recommended, and County Commission approved, $320m. This is an increase of $6m, or just under 2%. While not a huge increase, I initially assumed this would be enough to cover inflation and at least maintain the status quo. I was wrong. State-mandated increases in teacher's salaries, and step increases (salary increases based on another year's experience), total $6.3m that we are obligated to pay. So we've already used up the additional $6m before we even include increases in things like health insurance, utilities, fuel and debt service. 

There are inefficiencies and ways to save, and we're weighing various options, but we do not have the luxury of funding things just like last year. We will have to make some cuts to what we have been doing, hopefully in administration and operations - things that do not directly impact the classroom. Since 85% of our budget is for salaries and benefits, there will be some impact on personnel. I don't think anyone will lose their jobs, but we certainly won't be adding new positions except where state law requires.

Below, in no particular order, are some of the ideas that have been suggested by various Board members and the superintendent:

" Partial Hiring freeze
" Deferred maintenance
" Give non-certified staff a bonus instead of a raise (we traditionally give same % raise to certified and non-certified staff) 
" Switch insurance plans for non-certified staff from the school plan to the county plan - lower premiums for employees and employer, but inferior coverage
" Reduce the number of Assistant principals and principals-in-training
" Reduce budgets of ancillary programs such as Center School, Discovery Center, Driver's Education 
" Eliminate field trips
" Eliminate Middle School foreign language instruction, currently offered in only 5 of our 14 middle schools
" Eliminate the Talented and Gifted (TAG) program in Middle School
" Postpone textbook and equipment purchases
" Reduce Central Office staff, clerical, instructional supervisors, curriculum generalists, etc.
" Special Education - Staff who are currently paid by local funds could now be paid by federal funds
" Modify the fuel index - so bus contractors have a greater share of the risk/cost of increasing gas prices
" Reduce the number of teacher aides

Various configurations of the above proposed cuts amount to $5m, which is what we need to get down to $320m. Just to comment on a few of the above suggestions, I think we'll restore full-funding for field trips. I am very concerned about the proposed cuts to Middle School TAG and foreign language instruction - that would seriously undermine academic achievement in my mind. I have serious reservations about the proposed health insurance change for non-certified staff. You'll notice that athletics are not included on this list. As a former captain of my varsity team in high school and college, I definitely value sports within the school environment. Nevertheless, athletics should not be protected from cuts that everyone else has to face. I will mention this at our meeting on Monday.

None of these decisions are easy. My main goal as a school board member is improving academic achievement for all students, so I will keep that in mind as we discuss these options. If anybody would like more detailed information on the budget I can send you an excel spreadsheet with the numbers.

Trustee Commission
One thing that would help our budget a lot is if we could get the commission back from the Knox County Trustee. Every year we pay almost $3m for the trustee to perform the electronic transfer of money from the state to the school system. Most counties give this money right back to schools, but here it goes into the county's general fund instead.

BEP
Another thing that would help our budget tremendously is if the BEP (Basic Education Program) formula were fixed. Right now Knox County gets less money per capita from the state than any other school district in Tennessee, despite the fact that we have a greater share of at-risk students, English-language learners, and a higher cost of living than most other systems. We spend about $6700 per student, $2300 of which comes from the state. The formula is based in part on a county's ability to pay, i.e. local tax revenue capacity. 

On average the state gives counties $3163 per student. If we got to the state average, an additional $832 per student, multiplied by 52,000 students, it would translate into an additional $43m. This would require some major legislative changes since an increase in our BEP funding would probably mean a decrease to someone else's.

Magnet School Sibling Policy
I proposed and we passed the Priority Sibling Admission policy for magnet schools in the Spring. The idea is to encourage people to apply to the magnet programs knowing there is a greater chance that all their children could still be in the same school. So far I've gotten very positive feedback about it.

Job-Sharing Policy
I proposed a job-sharing policy that would allow teachers to work part time at the discretion of the principal. This could keep a lot of talented and motivated teachers in the workforce instead of opting out entirely for retirement or when family matters require their attention. This policy must be approved by the Teacher's Association and the School Board, but I think it will be approved by both bodies in the near future. 

MPC resolution
We passed a resolution to the Metropolitan Planning Commission a few months ago that asked them to formally consider schools when weighing approval of new developments. We now have excellent data on school capacity and enrollment so it's possible to tell how crowded a particular school would get if a new development within its zone were approved. The resolution is not anti-growth, it just encourages planners to make well-informed decisions. More households means more kids, which ultimately means we'll need more teachers and classrooms.

Attendance Policy
In August we'll be voting for the final time on a revised attendance policy. I think our attendance policy needs major revisions. If you have any suggestions or comments on this issue, please pass them along.

Renowned Young-Adult Author coming to Fulton High School
Reading skills are essential to all learning. Most people are on-board when it comes to literacy initiatives for elementary students, but kids in high school are seen as either proficient readers or lost causes. This is not the case at Fulton High School. There is an author, Sharon Draper, whose books make previously unenthusiastic readers change their minds. Thanks in part to this author and to the hard work of the faculty, Fulton students now check out more fiction from the school library than any other high school in the county. 

Sharon Draper is coming to UT in October and is willing to spend a day at a local school giving workshops about the writing process and readings from her books. Apparently her presentations are amazing and really touch the lives of students. If you'd like to learn more about her work go to http://sharondraper.com/.

This would be a great program for Fulton students, but the cost is $1,500. We're asking members of the community to help us pay for this great educational opportunity. Tax deductible contributions can be made payable to Fulton High School and sent to:

Fulton High School
Nancy Carden, Librarian
2509 N. Broadway
Knoxville, TN 37917-4568

Thanks for reading all of this. I appreciate your interest in our schools and hope together we can make our schools a place where all students can succeed.

Very Truly Yours,

Indya Kincannon 

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