By Kim Hilsenbeck
‘Tis the season, but not for the often stressful holidays. For Hays CISD trustees, it’s budget season, which can be almost as stressful. And certainly more complicated.
In the past three years, public schools in Texas saw their budgets decrease by substantial amounts when the legislature clipped the amount of funding by $5.4 billion. Hays CISD, like other districts, scrambled to make do, cutting teachers and other staff, revamping programs and finding cost-cutting measures under every rock.
Though some of that funding was restored in 2013, educators and district officials at Hays CISD argue that it was not the same amount as was cut and they are still behind the eight ball.
Assistant Superintendent Carter Scherff estimates the district would have about $8 million more in the budget this coming school year had the legislature not enacted the 2011 cuts.
Despite the decreased funding, Hays CISD was fortunate in some respects. While the district did not go unscathed, the cuts made by the board of trustees in the 2012-2013 and 2013-2014 budgets were not as devastating as they were in other districts.
This school year, for example, Hays CISD hired about 150 new teachers. It expects to hire about the same amount again this coming school year.
Still, reduced funding affects everything from the classroom to the cafeteria.
As the board hammers out the 2014-2015 budget, items are being put on and taken off the table with rapid-fire speed.
In April, district officials presented the board with a preliminary operating budget, though it did not include the total funding the district has to work with this coming school year. The 2013-2014 budget was a little more than $118.2 million.
The first budget round included, in part*, proposals to:
Replace elementary school RNs with LVNs through attrition
Have two lunch monitors at elementary schools instead of four
Restructuring the elementary school GT program
Removing 11 teachers from secondary levels
Alter staffing ratios at secondary campuses
Hire new employees, including:
11 teachers at the elementary level
3 new middle school counselors
SIM coaches (explained below) at the middle schools
1 new special education job coach
1 new safety officer
4 new content coordinators
1 part-time director
5 receptionists (all middle schools)
Board President Willie Tenorio expressed his support for that last measure, citing at two different meetings that one of the chief complaints he hears from members of the community is that middle schools have poor customer service.
Under the current staffing structure, campuses have PEIMS clerks (who collect a variety of state-mandated date) and attendance clerks, but they and other front office members cover the phones and the front desk.
Tenorio said the receptionists would ease the burden on the clerks who have other jobs they need to accomplish.
District officials were unable to provide any documented cases of complaints about customer service at the middle schools, nor was the district able to substantiate that the PEIMS and attendance clerks were not fulfilling their primary jobs effectively.
However, Savoy said the request for receptionists has been presented at the district’s annual Customer Service Crew Summit for the past three years.
He added, “PEIMS clerks will have much more responsibility with the new Texas Student Data System that will replace PEIMS and won't be able to help out in the front as often. Also, with more students, comes more need at the front for everything that goes on at the campus.”
District officials also proposed paying for substitute teachers for the vertical alignment teams.
Hays CISD spokesperson Tim Savoy said in terms of the 11 teachers at secondary levels being reduced, “No one is losing a job. We will be able to accommodate anyone who is displaced through attrition or added need.”
Preliminary budget discussions also included equity salary adjustments (which would cost about $3 million) along with modest raises for teachers and other employees. A salary comparison survey conducted earlier this year by the Texas Association of School Boards (TASB) showed that 119 employees in the district are paid more than the upper range for their positions, based on market comparisons with other Central Texas districts.
District officials recommend that for the upcoming school year, the board approve making the equity adjustments and only offer raises to employees who are at or below the market range.
One unknown factor at this point is the district’s costs for health insurance. Will it increase? The district is not sure yet, saying that figure won’t be ready until June, though Assistant Superintendent Carter Scherff wanted the board to make a decision about the staff salary increase prior to those insurance costs being released.
As discussions continued in May, board members expressed their support for, or concerns about, each of the proposed budget items.
Replacing RNs with LVNs did not gain much traction with the board, though Superintendent Mike McKie fully supported the measure, citing its effectiveness in other districts, including his former employer, Fort Bend ISD near Houston. Public outcry from nurses and parents at the suggestion may have prompted trustees to put the kibosh on that proposal. Regardless, Scherff moved that item to the deferred list for this coming year’s budget. Board members could still decide to go that route, though it appears unlikely.
Some parents and board members have expressed concern with having fewer lunch monitors. Leaders with the Hays Educators Association have said they would not support any measure that required teachers to monitor lunchrooms, as their contracts guarantee a 30-minute break each school day.
Moving to a GT clustering model, as opposed to the current pull out of class model, would theoretically save the district $412,500 annually. Board members expressed concerns about whether the clustered model would make more work for GT teachers.
Counselors at the middle schools would cost $260,000 annually, while SIM coaches come at a cost of $247,500 a year. A SIM coach will help middle school teachers implement the Strategic Instruction Model. A SIM coach position at Simon Middle School was funded by a grant, but that funding ended.
