legislative breakfast with orange county schools

At a breakfast meeting Tuesday, Jan. 12, members of the Orange County Schools Board of Education talked with state legislators Sen. Ellie Kinnaird and Rep. Verla Insko (Rep. Bill Faison was unable to attend due to "an emergency conflict") about the impact of the budget on the district, upcoming budget concerns and their stance on certain bills making their way through the legislature.
George McFarley, district chief operating officer, gave a recap of how decreases in the state's budgetary allotment affected Orange County Schools.
The district received $3.7 million less than they had the previous year. But that wasn't all.
"In addition to the reduction, we had to revert another $1.1 million back to the state," he said. "Of course, we did received some stimulus money for Title I and Exceptional Children services to the tune of ... $1.5 million."
Those stimulus dollars, however, had strings attached: They could not be used generally to plug the holes left by fewer state and local dollars. They had to be used in their specific area. Title I schools are high-poverty schools, while the Exceptional Children program supports children with special needs.
Certain budget line items were "zeroed out" — or completely unfunded —such as at-risk funding, which went from about $247,000 in 2008-2009 to nothing, McFarley said.
Textbook funding was almost halved: from nearly $472,000 to a little more than $280,000.
But non-instructional support — mostly salaries for people such as custodians, media assistants and secretaries — had one of the most dramatic reductions: From more than $1.9 million to a little less than $5,000.
"So, what did you do?" Kinnaird said.
District Chief Instructional Officer Denise Morton said the district received stimulus dollars and stabilization dollars; they used the latter to fill the whole left in non-instructional support.
Morton also said with textbook and other funding there are upcoming worries.
"As they call it in [the Department of Public Instruction], there's a big cliff we'll fall off at the end of next year," she said. "... After this year, we will no longer receive dollars for any kind of textbook purchase."
Insko asked whether the use of the Internet and online learning tools could help fill that gap.
Morton said that is difficult because "in northern Orange, there's very little Internet connectivity." That would make it hard for some students to access learning materials from home.
"We know some children would not be able to access it," she said.
Board member Debbie Piscitelli said in school, teachers are using the Internet more, but there are still issues with that: connectivity, making sure the technology is functional and making sure clases have access to the computer labs among them.
Morton said another way the state has tried to stretch limited textbook dollars is going to a seven-year — instead of a five-year — textbook adoption cycle.
Kinnaird said that concerned her because of the wear and tear on textbooks. Board Chair Anne Medenblik said it could also cause some books — especially history — to become out-of-date before new books are adopted. For example some are showing former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein as still in power, mentioning nothing that has happened since the early 2000s.
As for the at-risk funding, Morton said the people running those programs need the funds they lost and used every last stimulus dollar they received.
"The schools needed every bit of [that money] to support students who struggle with learning," she said. "... They really missed that money. It was zeroed out.  ... The Board of Education tried to plug some holes with local dollars, but that is something that we'd like to see returned if possible."
Students served by Exceptional Children have grown in the district, too, making those dollars ever more necessary.
In 2004, there were 15 children identified with autism in the district. In 2009, there were 100.
"Those students, their disabilities range from mild to very severe, so they require additional services," Morton said. "... We want to provide the best education we can for those students. ... The stimulus has helped, but it will go away."
There are similar problems with Limited English Proficiency and Academically and Intellectually Gifted programs as well, Morton said.

Next year's budget
Board member Ted Triebel said as terrible as the cuts they already had to endure were, the worst is probably yet to come.
"One of the scariest parts for us is ... there's going to be a 35 percent increase in budget reductions" according to some, he said.
Insko said there have been some increases in revenue, such as from corporate taxes, which she hoped would help fill the gaps.
"I guess I'm probably foolishly optimistic," she said. "Everybody's talking about what we're going to have to do. We are going to have some reductions, but I just hope they won't be as bad."
Triebel said he was also concerned about losing stimulus funds, which have buffered the blows landed by budget reductions.
Kinnaird said the long-term solution is more economic development to change the tax base.
"Orange County's taxes are already way too high," she said. "... My answer to that is we've got to get out there and get more commercial. We've got to change our balance."
Insko said she wasn't sure how much more the district could cut.
"You all have already cut all you can," she said. "And you've got to cut more."
Piscitelli agreed, saying theirs is a diverse district with gifted students and EC students and everything in between, for a total of nearly 7,100 students.
"It's very hard when you keep cutting to meet all of their needs in public education," she said.

Legislative issues
Board members also told their legislators their stances on four legislative issues: their opposition to HB 1292, Employ of Non-Certified Personnel, which "ties the hands of superintendents, principals, and other hiring-level personnel by stripping them of the power to suspend, demote of dismiss a non-certified employee," according to background materials; their support for calendar flexibility; their desire to retain governmental immunity; and their desire to allow LEAs (local education agencies) to include students who earn their high school diploma from a community college in graduation rate calculations.