Manatee County Schools Budget Cuts

By NIRVI SHAH
Posted on Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Everything is on the table.

High school athletics. High school student schedules. Soda contracts. The number of days all employees work. Bus rides to magnet schools. Employees who work with disabled children.

With their budget slashed about $130 million in the past year and another $140 million bite expected out of next year´s budget, Broward School Board members said Tuesday they need to do something to make the public realize the district´s new reality.

“Everything has to be on the table, including the things that will get people´s attention. We are in crisis,” board chairwoman Maureen Dinnen said.

The district could save $500,000 by cutting the number of high school games in some sports. Changing all high school schedules to just six classes a day could save $30 million. Cutting bus rides to magnet schools would save $7.7 million.

The district is only at the beginning of ferreting out what will be cut from next year´s budget, but these items, which they rejected from consideration in the past, will at the least be part of this year´s discussion. So will a host of other possible cuts, including laying off as many as 1,800 people.

“We will have pain. We will hurt quality,” Superintendent Jim Notter said. “We are going into uncharted waters.”

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