School funding reduced yet again
This month's cuts total 7.11 percent because of a revenue shortfall
By CLIFTON ADCOCK and ANDREA EGER World Staff Writers
Published: 11/13/2009 2:22 AM
Last Modified: 11/13/2009 12:13 PM
Schools will see a 7.11 percent total drop in state funding this month because of a $7 million shortfall in the House Bill 1017 revolving fund that the state Department of Education announced Thursday.
A shortfall in October collections spurred the department to order a 2.11 percent cut in addition to a 5 percent cut already mandated by the state. That shortfall will be passed on to local school districts in this month's disbursements.
State Superintendent Sandy Garrett said the reaction to the cuts would be unique to each district, although the department has been talking with some schools about consolidating.
"Each district has had to already rebudget and adjust their budgets all year," Garrett said. "I suspect we're cutting into the bone now."
Some relief may come from tapping the state's "rainy day" fund, but even it has its limits.
"The rainy day fund has its limits on what you can use," Garrett said. Referring to lawmakers, she said, "Obviously, I think they're going to have to use the rainy day fund sometime."
State education officials had warned last month that the amount in the HB 1017 revolving fund was running dangerously low, and that disbursements from it would come solely from collections.
Just as state collections earmarked for the general fund have dropped, so have collections for the 1017 fund, which was created in the 1990 education reform law to be a revenue stream for schools. The money, which goes directly to schools' state appropriations, comes from a variety of sources, including income, corporate, sales, and tobacco taxes and tribal gaming revenue.
Tulsa Superintendent Keith Ballard returned from a budget meeting with Garrett in Oklahoma City even more pessimistic about the future of state funding for common education.
"I think it could be as bad or even worse than I predicted a couple of months ago when I sounded the alarm. The state treasurer reassured us that we would be held harmless to 2009 (funding) levels, but I just don't see where the money is to hold us to '09 (funding) levels," he said. "I am extremely concerned about the budget picture, and I think it could have dire consequences for TPS."
Ballard called on State Treasurer Scott Meacham or Gov. Brad Henry to clear up the situation for school districts.
"I would just like clarification from the treasurer's office or the governor's office. As one who is fairly conversant in state budget matters, it looks fairly unlikely that they're going to be able to meet those '09 funding levels and more and more likely that that worst-case budget situation is going to happen," he said.
Trish Williams, the Tulsa district's chief financial officer, said she was still crunching the numbers to determine what the 7.11 percent reduction for November will mean for the district. As of October, Tulsa Public Schools had seen its state allocation reduced by $1.4 million.
Elsewhere, Union Public Schools likely has enough money to make it through the year if the funding cuts don't get worse, Superintendent Cathy Burden said.
Up to the end of October, the district had its revenue reduced by $438,000 this year, she said.
"That's a big cut, a cut that concerns us," Burden said. "We have enough reserve in our ending fund balance that we can weather a storm this year that's up to 5 percent level. I realize every district is going to be a little different. We are in a situation where we can weather this, but we are going to, of course, continue to be very, very frugal and conservative in how we're spending money."
Burden said the school would cut other areas if necessary to protect teachers.
"Our intent is to continue to maintain the employees we have in the district," she said. "We will cut and curtail expenditures, things that might come out of the general fund other than salaries and our people."
But the surplus that Union has built over the years can only hold out for so long, she said.
"We can't sustain this kind of cut for very long," she said. "We are really in a kind of wait-and-see, month-by-month attitude. As bad as this year is, my bigger fear is for next year."
Clifton Adcock 581-8462
clifton.adcock@tulsaworld.com
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Oklahoma schools expected to see further funding cuts," which was published on 11/12/2009.
