The fund balance in Dade County Schools has slipped to near $500,000, which Superintendent Patty Priest says is the lowest figure since 2007.
That’s when officials started trying to pad the fund balance to offset property-tax reassessments and a sliding economy, she said.
Since then, Dade has lost more than $1 million in state funding cuts, trimmed central office staff and implemented furlough days while trying to cover other expenses with reserves.
“Next year looks grim at this point,” Mrs. Priest said.
Dade school officials expect the state’s midterm budget adjustments to include three more teacher furlough days, but Mrs. Priest said she hopes to use snow days for that.
Since 2003, the Legislature’s annual cuts to the state Quality Basic Education funding — known as austerity cuts — have been a six-figure hit to the budget, she said. This fiscal year the cuts are rising to $1.4 million, although $263,000 will be replaced by federal stimulus money.
The situation is even made worse by cuts to “equalization funding,” money given to the state’s poorer school districts to even them up with the top 45 districts, she said. Dade receives equalization money.
QUALITY BASIC EDUCATION CUTSFiscal Austerity Federal NetYear Cut Stimulus Cut2003 $237,922 $0 $237,9222004 $499,354 $0 $499,3542005 $586,223 $0 $586,2232006 $586,218 $0 $586,2182007 $275,649 $0 $275,6492008 $231,907 $0 $231,9072009 $812,988 $263,437 $549,5512010 $1,450,276 $672,483 $777,793Source: Dade County SchoolsBY THE NUMBERSDade schools general fund balance* $565,579: Dec. 30, 2009* $1,833,849: 2009/10* $2,895,864: 2008/09* $2,596,575: 2007/08* $3,469,650: 2006/07Source: Dade County Schools
Board of Education Chairwoman Carolyn Bradford said Dade’s board members are “laying everything on the table that we can lay on the table to see what we can do.”
They want to avoid cutting jobs, she said.
“We haven’t had to go there yet,” she said. “But we’ve got to do something. With the continuing cuts, we’ve got to make some decisions.”
She said she e-mailed Dade teachers to say no decisions have been made and asked them for cost-cutting suggestions.
“Quite a few of them were saying to look at a four-day work week or to cut the calendar back to 160 days, like some other systems have done,” she said.
Other suggestions were to cut utility costs, she said.
“There are little things that we can do, but that’s not a lot of money,” she said.
“The only other option we have is to do a millage increase (on property taxes) and we don’t want to do that,” she said. “The economy has been so bad and people have lost their jobs, I just don’t think they can stand any more tax increases.”