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TISD cuts staff to help balance new budget Trinity Standard - August 2008 TRINITY – Ten vacant staff positions – including seven for teachers – will be eliminated by the Trinity Independent School District this coming year in order to help balance the new budget. During a July 31 meeting of the Trinity School Board, board members and school staff reviewed income and expense estimates for the coming year in an effort to close a $1 million gap reported in June. Although the almost $8 million budget for the 2008-2009 school year will not be finalized until later this month, Superintendent Dr. Bobby Rice told the board that he and Business Manager Kevin Parrish will be able to recommend a balanced budget. In order to achieve the balance between spending and revenue, Rice and Parrish have been working to cut about $1 million in expenses. One of the most severe cuts will be the elimination of seven teaching positions, two auxiliary personnel jobs and one administrative post. Rice assured the board that with the elimination of jobs, no one would be fired or laid off. “These are positions that are vacant right now. We’re just proposing that we not fill them,” Rice told the board. For instance, the administrative post to be dropped from next year’s budget will be the assistant superintendent’s position – a job formerly held by Jeremy Glenn. Glenn resigned last week in order to accept the Central Heights ISD superintendent’s job. Earlier this year the district created a new administrative job – that of principal for the new Trinity Intermediate School – and named Elementary Curriculum Director Vanessa Franklin to fill that position. Rice said that under the new budget, Franklin’s old job will be eliminated. In addition, the position of secondary curriculum director also is being dropped and Dr. Rowan Ljungdahl, who currently serves in that job, is being re-assigned as the new director of special programs. Ljungdahl and Rice will assume the duties formerly covered by the assistant superintendent and the work of the curriculum directors will be re-assigned to the campus principals. When asked by board member L.C. Courtney if the staff cuts could be accomplished without hurting educational efforts, Rice said he felt they could. “These cuts will create the need for people to do things they haven’t had to in the past and take on new duties, but I believe this can be accomplished,” Rice said. Trinity High School Principal Jim Underwood noted that despite the loss of teachers, the high school will not be dropping any courses that were offered in the past. “Although we’re going to have a smaller staff, were actually going to offer more courses,” he said. During their budget discussions, Parrish reported some good news. He noted that the Texas Education Agency had miscalculated the district’s funding for the coming year and the school will gain about $120,000 over what had been reported in June. “Kevin is the one that spotted the error and immediately appealed to TEA, telling them our numbers are right and their number were wrong,” Rice told the board. After reviewing the situation, TEA agreed with the TISD business manager and adjusted their figures. While regaining some money from the state, Parrish told the board they can expect to lose about $50,000 in federal funds next year. In addition to cuts in staff, Parrish and Rice outlined a number of other spending cuts that include the elimination of TISD’s participation in the county-wide ante-drug DARE program, purchasing one new bus instead of the normal two, reducing the number of bus monitors from three to one, consolidating bus routes and eliminating one, cutting the truancy program from 10 to nine months and implementing a 10 percent across-the-board cut in the supply budget. The cut in the supply budget prompted board member Gary Gallant to ask if enough money would be available to insure that teachers get the items they will need. “I believe it will. Actually, because of the decrease in staff, the actual percentage of spending per teacher should increase,” Rice said. The superintendent added the cuts being proposed were designed to make the smallest impact possible on the school district’s instructional effort. Parrish noted that the only other option to the cuts would be to increase taxes and face a tax rollback election. Gallant and the other board members agreed that option would only be taken if all other measures fail. “I think you have done a good job in cutting the budget without jeopardizing the education of the kids,” Gallant added. The board is scheduled to meet for budget workshops on Monday, Aug. 11 and if needed, again on Monday, Aug. 18. Both meetings will begin at 6 p.m. Final adoption of the new budget is scheduled for their next regular meeting on Aug. 25. The new budget must be in place before Sept. 1, when it goes into effect.
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