School budget cuts are coming - what might your district cast aside?

Dave Weber
Monday, April 28, 2008

The economy is down, sales-tax collections have fallen and the state has reduced funding for education -- and school districts across Central Florida are slashing budgets for next school year.

Teachers and other employees may be the first to feel the hit. Salaries and benefits account for about 85 percent of the cost of day-to-day operation of the schools -- and that is where the hatchet is falling hardest.

Special programs also are high on the list.

Orange County is talking about eliminating some music programs, as well as trimming or axing some alternative schools, such as the Middle School Professional Academy. The Seminole School Board voted last week to close the Quest Academy for high-school students who are behind academically, despite its success, leaving those who attend struggling to understand.

“I don´t think other students should be denied the chance I have had,” said Laura Fisher, 16, a 10th-grader at Quest Academy who pulled her grades up from C´s and D´s to A´s and B´s.

Sports programs, summer school, field trips and other aspects of public education that students, teachers and parents have taken for granted will be affected, too.

While school boards won´t solidify their budgets until the end of July, and final votes won´t come until mid-September, most of the real decisions about what to cut are being made now. School starts in August, and teachers and programs are being lined up this month.

Copyright © 2008, Orlando Sentinel