Monday, May 16, 2011

M-DCPS cuts administrative salaries, prepares for 8% budget cuts

After several hours of awards, proclamations and recognitions, the School Board got down to the dirty business of money: namely, budget cuts and other revenue shortfalls.

Tee Holloway pointed out that roughly $220 million is being drained by charter schools from our school district, a number confirmed by district CFO Richard Hinds,who did however say that projections for the coming year were inexact due to the 8% disbursement cut that would affect charter schools as well as public schools.

Renier Diaz de la Portilla insisted that these are projections, and that we have no way of knowing that even if charter schools did not exist, that the students would not have exited to go to private schools or to public schools outside our boundaries. Once again, he felt compelled to protect the privatization-of-the-public-sector from scrutiny.

D-24: Administrative salary cut
The Superintendent proposed to cut by 20% the maximum managerial salary . "As I've been advising you for a number of months, as the harshness of economic conditions begins to hit us, I've promised you that at the very top we'd set a compelling example for things to come. The moral imperative that we've been flying on for the past three years will continue. I do not believe in doing anything less than the absolute protection of critical programs, including world languages, arts and music programs to the best of our ability. To achieve that, we're going to have to engage in a degree of collective sacrifice. Our administrators are honorable people. You do not win wars by killing off the generals just to make the soldiers happy. I will not do that. The only reductions in force have taken place with the administrators. Not a single full-time teacher on contract has been laid off." (True, but in a backhanded kind of way: countless teachers have worked in 3100 positions for several years without being offered a contract, precisely so that the district can maintain that no-layoffs rhetoric.) "What I can promise is this: protecting the classroom to the best of our ability will continue to be our priority. This is not a savory item. It will be a cut of 20% to the maximum salary. All those making above that new maximum will see a 2% cut. This provides an opportunity for us to look at the supplements and credential payments of all employees not protected by union contracts." Once again, we are reminded how vitally important our union contracts are: they protect our supplements and credential payment.

Board member Raquel Regalado took the opportunity to speak out against the budget cuts: "I think this is a necessary item and I think it is completely in line with what we as a Board have said over and over is our ideology. As a Board we have said we do not believe in raising taxes and we do not want to cut the classroom, and this is completely in line with that. The $27 million that we saved the last meeting when we made reductions was not an easy decision. We reduced our IT department even as the state insisted we offer virtual classes and do FCAT testing on computers. Whenever we make these types of reductions there exists the possibility where great people will get to the point where they've had enough. The reason I wanted to speak on this item is that we've been so proactive, we've done such a great job in dealing with this budgetary crisis before the fact, but I do not want the public listening or Tallahassee for that matter to say that our actions as responsible boad members prove what they've been saying all along, that we just have to be more innovative, that we have to do more with less. We've been doing more with less since 2003. When we look at what we've paid our staff and the reductions we've been making, we're giving them less and less and less. The governor considers this session a success. I consider it an exercise in travesty. At the same token we're hearing the extreme right beating the drum about how the next session has to be more proactive and make further cuts to education. I do not want this to be used against us next session because they just punished the faithful."

Superintendent Carvalho continued: "This opens a door; I'm signaling to you that I'm going to engage in a deep analysis of salary to certain groups and bring those numbers back to you as part of the budget recommendation. This will probably affect about 400 people altogether...Before we start looking at art and foreign language programs, etc., we should start looking at add-ons, like credential payment for MEP, CEPs for supplements...there are some supplements for simply taking district classes for CEP that I do not think can be explained. The way we're going to manage to balance the budget this year is going to be through very surgically executed reductions that are not going to remove $30 million from one single pocket but that will be very precise. We have about an $80 plus million headache. We're going to get there by being very strategic, very deliberate, very careful and doing a line-by-line review of the budget. This brings half a million; the supplements will bring between half a million and a million dollars; this could bring back a million and a half dollars and should not be ignored."

The motion carried unanimously.

A-1: Discussion of budget cuts and programs changes from Tallahassee
School Board lobbyist Iraida Mendez-Cartaya explained the grim realities of 2011 legislative session:
"Education was reduced by 7.5%. The unweighted FTE was reduced by $542. The reduction is mainly due to 2 issues: the sunsetting of the federal stimulus monies, which they did not replace in our formula, and the reduction in tax revenues. The reductions to the school districts will be mitigated to some extent by pension reform. This was a priority for the governor, the speaker and the president of the senate. Public employees enrolled in the state pension plan will have to contribute 3% of their salary beginning July 1. For new hires effective July 1, retirement age will increase from 62 years of age to 65. The years of service required for full benefits increased as well from 30 years to 33 years of service. As relates to class size, the legislature did pass legislation providing school districts flexibility as it relates to the implementation of class size reduction. In grades pre-K to 3, the courses that have to meet class size include reading, math, language arts, social studies and science. In grades 4-8 subjects required for state tests and middle class promotion. Grades 9-12 courses tested by statewide assessments and required for graduation. The language was modified in the bill concerning co-enrollment so that it would be allowed for credit recovery for the coming year. SB 1312 which transfers the authority from the Dept of Education to the Dept of Agriculture passed, which is another issue the Board adopted last month as a matter of fact. The cornerstone of much of what was debated in Tallahassee was school choice. The legislature expanded school choice for parents and passed several bills. They passed legislation that would make a constitutional amendment removing prohibition of public money going to religious institutions, expanding charter schools, expanding the definition of what a failing school is, a major expansion to virtual instruction and also redefining what qualifies for a McKay Scholarship."

Dr. Hinds explained his qualms with using reserve money to fill some of the gaps: "Our shifting back of reserves back into capital will result in a reduction in revenue to the general fund of $213 million. One of the problems by using this reserve at this time, which is roughly $30 million, is that that is a non-recurring source of revenue, which will cause a potential problem going into 2013. This funding crisis is not a one-time affair; it will continue at least into '12-'13. Our total FTE is slightly up; however charter FTE is slated to increase by more than our total FTE. The New World School of the Arts appropriation, from the standpoint of the state, was decreased by nearly half. We now receive absolutely no PECO money from the state. Universities receive PECO money, charter schools receive PECO money, community colleges receive PECO money, but we now receive no PECO money. We will have a board budget briefing next Thursday from 10 AM to noon where we will go in great detail into revenue and pinpoint the amount of our reduction."

Once again, Diaz de la Portilla took the opportunity to praise his brother's (and party's) work in Tallahassee: "$59 million saved from pension reform. One way of looking at it is that revenue went down by $185 but we saved $59 million." (Translation:...It's a paycut for teachers already earning about $7,000 below the national average, but hey, who cares? It helps us out of the hole a little, so it can't be all bad...)

Hinds returned to the subject of the money that charter schools suck away from the public school system: "We expect a slight increase in our total enrollment, but our share in total enrollment will be down slightly if our projections regarding charter schools is accurate. Our programs in South Dade and our programs all over are a way of being more competitive with charters. Our enrollment in charter schools is equal to New York, but they have over a million FTE. Our base student allocation will be at the same level as a full decade ago, although our expenditures are much higher than at that time. Charter schools will have the same loss of 8% FTE. The problem to charters is that most charters do not participate in the FRS. We will incur a savings of over $100 million in expenditures that they won't. Large charters will probably be able to do it. Small charters won't."

Regalado returned to an issue that had come up earlier in the discussion: the inability of the district to provide proper maintenance for its older buildings, especially now that we will be losing the PECO money. "For many of our parents, the only face they see of the Miami-Dade County School Board is the one they encounter on a daily basis at their particular school. The decay of that particular school resonates with them and they see that as our responsibility to maintain those schools. As School Board members we get e-mails dealing with everything from lack of toilet paper to leaky roofs to why does one building have central AC and another has AC units in the windows. I think it's admirable that we're going to look at alternative funding to resolve these issues. However I have to say that the expenses that we incurred in our construction was because of the unfunded mandate for class size, and that is still out there. It was the responsibility of the state to provide funding and because of the state's failure to properly fund education we cannot maintain the buildings. Everyone comes home from Tallahassee against crime and for education and kissing babies, and that's not the way it happened in Tallahassee, and I'm sick of it."

Board member Dr. Martin Karp pointed out that new laws were allowing high-performing charter schools less oversight fees, and if Carvalho had any idea of what we could do about that.

Carvalho spoke rather forcefully: "At some point in our state, they're going to make a determination. Are charter schools public schools or not? If they are, we have to play by the same rules all the time, not part of the time. Either we're all public or we're not. If we're all public schools, we should all be treated the same."

Dr. Karp then tackled the issue of expanded virtual schools: "There is now a sytem in place--am I right that any kindergartener could participate in a virtual program or is this limited to kindergarteners who are homebound? I have a kindergartener and I cannot imagine putting a five-year-old in front of a computer."

Mendez-Cartaya responded, "Yes, it is expanded to K-12."

Diaz de la Portilla touched on the "money-saving" feature of another piece of legislation tearing down at the working conditions of teachers: "I have some questions about some policy initiatives that passed. I'd like to bring in some of our contract lobbyists to opine on those issues. The core subject class size legislation that reclassified or reclarified would be a better word, as it relates to class size, that obviously got us away from the penalty, which saved us whichever amount of dollars...does that save us money going forward?"

Hinds explained, "Last year, 80% of our classes were core. Due to the flexibility obtained by our lobbyists, now only 50% of our classes are core. We're absolutely considering some small increase, not in elementary school, but in middle schools and high schools to accommodate that decrease in core. Foreign languages are no longer core. Classes that offer college credit are no longer core. The broadening of electives in middle school and high school, we need to take advantage of that."

Yes, Mr. Diaz de la Portilla, indeed. Let us take advantage of teachers teaching those totally unimportant, non-academic courses that contribute nothing to a child's education, like Spanish or AP World History or AP Calculus. We all agree that the only classes that matter are tested by the FCAT.

He persisted: "The savings result when you increase the allocations to those classes and you reduce your number of teachers necessary to provide instructional services. You only have a savings in fact if you reduce those allocations."

Hinds: "This is not chump change; this is not inconsequential."

Diaz de la Portilla explained clearly: "My point is, we're under extraordinary circumstances, and yes we took a revenue hit, but we recovered it in other areas, through legislation, the class size issue, the employer contribution rate issue, the coenrollment issue, you can say we lost $200 million on one end but got back $200 million on the other end. It's practically a wash. I think that's the whole story. I don't think we can only show one side of the issue, and say that one party is good and the other is bad, that one loves education and the other hates education and goes home and kicks puppies at night..."

Of course, Mr. Diaz de la Portilla. Teachers have nothing to reproach your brother and his cronies in Tallahassee for further undermining public education and worsening working conditions for teachers and other employees around the county.

Regalado spoke up: "I understand your point...I know that we're facing extraordinary circumstances, but I refuse to say that what was done in Tallahassee is right. There were a lot of changes made in Tallahassee that have nothing to do with funding but which are ideological decisions. I spoke to Governor Scott and he expressed his disdain for public education. That is why I endorsed Alex Sink and why everyone got mad at me. I don't think we can whitewash this. I didn't accuse anyone of going home and kicking puppies. I said kissing babies. Everyone comes back and says they're pro-education. I'm glad you brought up the issue of virtual schools, Dr. Karp, because I have those issues and I took them up with Anitere. As a parent, I can say computers are not what my son needs. They need to sit down and learn to write, not play on a computer. I'm not against virtual schooling, but there is an age where it's appropriate. I think that for super-motivated children, virtual schooling is an option. But this is what my concern is. Virtual schooling is going to be used as a sword and shield against our less-performing students. This is being used as a means by which to resolve educational issues and not to deal with it. It's not going to work for a particular part of our population. We cannot pretend that a 10 or 20% of our super-motivated students should be whom our education system should be modeled on. They're a minority. They're a wonderful minority and we love them. But there's a full system of other children who need to be educated. As a basic legal premise, it is the responsibility of the state of Florida to educate its children. Every single one of its children. To not do so is improper. Two more things since it came up, I'm so glad the superintendent mentioned the issue of the legality of some of the things that occurred in session. Unlike our system of government where we have a School Board attorney we can discuss these issues with, Tallahassee does not. The issue is that they draft up bills and they send it to drafting, and drafting puts it in neat little paragraphs, and people assume that this makes it legal, and it does not. We are in a position to consider the legality of the issues taken up in Tallahassee. It's not being letigious, it's being responsible. On the Rivas-Logan issue I have to take issue...it's not what was done but the way it was done. The things that were said on the floor, I would have understood if they were said ten years ago, when you could say things in Tallahassee and no one would know. Now there's an audience listening to what you're saying. The misinformation that was expounded on the floor in order to garnish support for this bill was improper in so many ways. Thankfully it was resolved. I think that at the end of the day, Rivas-Logan has lost her credibility with the Dade delegation and with a lot of other people in Tallahassee for her misrepresentation. Who speaks for Dade County schools are the nine people sitting up here. It's what we've said before and we need to continue saying it. We were up there lobbying. They could have asked us. That was something that was very sad about this session because it was very disrespectful and it was very misleading."

Carvalho took a halfway position between Regalado and Diaz de la Portilla: "This was not an easy session. This was a heartbreaking session. It would have been much worse had it not been for some policy changes, coenrollment being one. We're still going to have to deal with an $80 million budget hole. It could have been worse, it could have been $50 million worse, and I give credit where credit is due for fixing some of those issues. More than 50% of the delegation took a position against this bill. The board has spoken about the misstatements and misinformation that took place. Unfortunately some of that misinformation flew in the face of the PTSA in this district and that has been corrected. The end of one session should be the beginning of the next. There is no summer break. Conversations have to start right now, not just on the budget but on every policy issue that may resurface next year."

UTD President Karen Aronowitz stood to speak out on A-1: "The onslaught against children is real. We cannot operate our schools on the money this state is allocating. We must turn to the courts and adequacy lawsuits--lawsuits won in other states by banding together and filing those suits and joining with the suits of others. What happened this session was not shared sacrifice, it was slaughter.  The same corporations that sullied our shores and then asked where is our government, the same people who feed at the trough of public funds and refused to pay their fair share are those who are destroying our schools. When the schools collapsed in China, those responsible committed suicide from the dishonor. Here, I imagine when it has been done they will turn away from the bodies and have another glass of champagne."

UTD Secretary/Treasurer Fedrick Ingram also spoke out on the issue: "As we've discussed, the recent legislative session ended with a 7.5% cut to Miami-Dade County. Many have tried to spin this as a smaller cut by saying that other changes offset it. This is only true if you accept that cuts to employee salaries and benefits don't affect the classroom. The citizens of the state of Florida have a constitutional right to a high-quality public school. The constitution does not guarantee us whatever system the legislature decides to fund. We teach our children to be good stewards of society and what we get in return are paycuts. This is a travesty and must be fixed."

D-45: The creation of John I. Smith K-8 Center
Carvalho spoke to the many parents who were there in support of the creation of a K-8 Center at John I. Smith Elementary: "If the Board approves my recommendation, it will respect students and what's best for them. It provides expanded choice by providing a K-8 solution model to John I. Smith students at two different campuses and we've done this before successfully at Coral Gables Elementary recently. It eliminates overcrowded conditions at Ronald Reagan. It eliminates the lawsuit, and yes, the lawsuit will go away whether the K-8 model will be implemented or not. It expands the funding base for Doral Middle. Why is that important? Because we know that the percentage of students leaving John I. Smith Elementary is not proportional to the number of students entering Doral Middle. It protects vocational programs. Unlike other models, the elective vocational programs will be protected. Last but not least, it opens true choice in Doral, not only for parents at John I. Smith but also to parents who may have children at other schools. This will be a true choice zone in Doral. It just makes good sense. The possibility of true choice expansion is a good thing. This will further guarantee the existence and viability of vocational programs. It is clear that the district is subsidizing those vocational programs because the school is underenrolled. Looking at the funding going into next year it would not be feasible to keep those vocational programs running. At the end of the day, if we implement the plan as modified, not following any one group's proposal or counterproposal, we will have elective vocational programs alive and viable in Doral and will offer a true free choice zone in Doral. This brings a viable solution. It does not cost any additional money; it will in fact protect the current Doral Middle School which is underenrolled. It makes the lawsuit go away which saves the district money."

Several speakers stood up to share their agreement with the proposal, and it passed unanimously.

Public hearing
At the public hearing, UTD President Karen Aronowitz compared teachers who remain trapped in a system that continuously punishes them to domestic violence victims: "Those of us who view the victims of domestic violence from our positions of safety often ask, “Why do they stay?  What fear holds them captive to abuse; what strange entanglement of devotion or love or belief that the last beating was the last, and that promises made by the abuser can be relied upon, no matter how many times before that promise was broken. We look at the victims, the ones who stay and the ones who manage to leave, often fleeing with nothing, and the ones who try to have the violence stopped with restraining orders and whose bodies are often found in their homes and their cars, in isolation or in public, killed by the failure of a piece of paper to restrain everyone. I stand here after the 2011 legislative session and I equate the treatment of our teachers to a state and national scandal of domestic violence against us.  It is still May, the month we celebrate teacher appreciation week. We have heard some praise regarding teachers, and we listened to some more of it today.  At the same time this board was silent as legislators passed Senate Bill 736, which is the same harmful bill as Senate Bill 6.  I begged you to take a position before session against this demoralizing, unfunded, demeaning bill based on psuedostatistics and revenge. When one of our former school board members tried to pass a bill aimed solely against the locally elected School Board of Miami-Dade County Public Schools, I took a position to speak out because I believe that in our county, we should determine the size of our own school board, and that the leadership of the board should be decided within the board itself. Senate Bill 736 strips us of basic due process rights and says that there will be no increase in our salaries unless we are willing to trade away those basic rights for a bogus, unfunded pay-for-performance scheme.  No matter how stellar our performance, experienced teachers are demeaned as incompetent.  Senate Bill 736 was passed over our protests the first week of session.  This session saw, in addition to this abomination, this violence against teachers, a state income tax on us that cut our salaries by 3%. A profession that is largely composed of women has been overrun by politicians who have stolen the little we have and cheapened the quality of the education this school district can offer by decreasing the funding public schools receive.  Teachers stay, because, like the victims of abuse, they see no place to go at this time.   Jobs are scarce and our skills so undervalued that politicians use fear and intimidation to keep us in our place. But sometimes, some woman musters up her courage, defends herself and her own children, and faces down her abuser.  He is the one forced to leave.  That day for teachers is close at hand."

Well said. If only we could believe someone were listening? It is crucial to mobilize a strong vote for public education in 2012...