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Cutting budgets

Wednesday, January 11th, 2012

School districts in Colorado are again cutting budgets.  Jefferson County Schools, the largest district, will cut somewhere between $35 million this new part of the school year and $15 million for 2012-13.  The District has already cut about $70 million over the previous two years.  The operating budget that ran at $650 million in 2008-2009 is now down to about $580 million and dropping.

The District has engaged in a proactive process in its budget work.  The County Financial Officer (CFO) consistently uses conservative numbers to calculate budgetary possibilities.  That tack helped the District build a large surplus in the mid 2000’s that has buffered some cuts.  Even so, the drop in tax dollars has been relentless, and reserves are tapped.

The District developed a “Budget Academy,” a six week program that covered all aspects of its budget.  Over 100 people participated, patiently listening to reports from district personnel on facilities, transportation, athletics, instruction, technology, compensation, health benefits, and pensions.

These people then became involved in Budget Work Groups that focused on sections of the budget, scouring departments and school budgets for any excess flesh.  District personnel took the first whacks, reviewed the whacks with citizens, and tried to mitigate cuts for classrooms.

Citizens and employees completed an online survey asking where cuts should occur.  The cry went out, “Get rid of administrators.”  One person suggested getting rid of buildings as well, saying a tent, children, teacher, and blackboard are enough.  Suggestions included expanding transportation walking distances another half mile (up hill both ways), increasing fees for athletics and other after school activities, trimming librarians and school counselors, and getting rid of music and arts in elementary school.  Long ago the district eliminated after school athletics for middle school.

What the District hasn’t done yet is decide where it needs to hold the line.  It hasn’t made triage decisions.  So, if the District decides it must get all third graders reading at grade level, how can it fund that decision?  Or if the district needs to put money into middle school to keep those kids on track, how can it fund that need?

The District hasn’t explored whether it’s possible to reduce costs and increase teacher income by asking some teachers to take on more students, pay for the extra work, but save money by reducing the staffing.

The harsh recession continues to take its toll.  We may not know the full impact for 12 years when today’s kindergartners are seniors.  If drop out levels are high in 2024, and lots of graduates need remediation in college, we can look back to their early years and know that the recession of 2008-2012 wreaked havoc on our ability to deliver the excellence kids deserve no matter what year they’re born.

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Posted in Jeffco Public Schools, program improvement, public schools, school finance reform |
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School board election to test public education

Wednesday, October 26th, 2011

Non-partisan school board elections have turned highly partisan in the Denver metro area.  The Republican party has gone full forward against two teachers’ associations - the Jefferson County Education Association and Douglas County’s American Federation of Teachers.

What’s interesting is that both districts do well in the state’s academic assessment program.  Douglas County, which rims the south metro area, has a mostly white population, with a 10 percent poverty rate.  Jefferson County, which at one time mirrored Douglas County’s demographic, now is much more diverse with a 30 percent poverty rate.

Jeffco School District is the largest in the state with about 85,000 students.  Its students test well above the state average on the Colorado School Assessment Program (CSAP) tests.  Of the 140+ schools in the district, one is considered non-performing.  The district has numerous schools ranking among the top 10 percent in achievement.  Douglas County Schools are similar in their test results, with no non-performing schools.

Douglas County has also been at the front end of pay for performance reforms.  It is about to release a revised performance pay package.  Jeffco is currently testing pay for performance strategies in a federal pilot program based on a $38 million grant.

Nevertheless, the Republican party is pushing a hard, anti-union agenda, on the premise that unions provide dollars to Democratic candidates. The Jeffco district, with a majority Republican board, advocates, and is trying to implement, a voucher program allowing up to 500 students to attend private schools, including religious schools.

The cry in Jefferson County by Republican candidates is for more “choice,” even though every school in Colorado is a choice school.  Jefferson County has 12 charter schools and has received only one charter application in recent years.

In addition, the Jeffco Republican candidates, along with a current board member, will put pressure on the superintendent to “follow directions.”  It’s likely that the superintendent, elected Colorado Superintendent-of-the-Year by her colleagues in 2010, will leave the district if the Republican candidates, known as the “two dads,” win.

The two dads state that a voucher plan is not their goal.  But Republican candidates for school board in Douglas County said the same thing in the 2009 election, and now that district is fighting for vouchers in the Colorado state court system.

November 1 is Election Day.  Both districts, representing about 17 percent of Colorado kids, face stark choices.  The school boards elected in this election will test how citizens see public education in the future.

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Posted in American Federation of Teachers, Colorado Education Association, Douglas County Schools, Jeffco Public Schools, public schools |
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Bright days go dark for school finance in Colorado

Wednesday, September 7th, 2011

Schools open early in Colorado.  In many districts, teachers start back the second week of August and kids arrive the 3rd week.  This year, in many districts, teachers arrived as they usually do to set up their classrooms, but they didn’t get paid.  No money.

This is the irony of working as a teacher in today’s environment in Colorado, where the spending-cuts Tea Party has many forceful adherents.

Fewer days, fewer hours for kids and teachers

Jefferson County (Jeffco) teachers  on the west side of the Denver metro area will take a 3 percent pay cut in 2011-12, based on five furlough days.  Three furlough days will occur out of professional development time, and two will occur around school holidays when students will also get an extra day off.

At a time when many students need to be in school more hours and/or more days, districts across Colorado are cutting both.

State’s largest district sees $100 million cut from budget over 4 years

Jefferson County’s general fund budget has declined by $60 million since its high point in 2009-10, just before revenue for the state budget contracted.  Another $70 million will likely go away through 2013-14.  At this point there’s no telling when the down trend will turn around, and even when it does, it’s likely to take years just to get back to ‘09-10 levels.

State continues to throw mandates at districts with no money

Despite the budget cutting at districts, the state continues to mandate work and other requirements.  Senate Bill 10-191 is an example.  This bill states that school districts will provide performance evaluations to all teachers annually, and to new and probationary teachers two to three times a year.

This state mandate is a good idea.  Teachers should be regularly and systematically evaluated.  However, management staffing to do these evaluations is lacking. Most management to staff ratios in business hit around 1 manager for 10 people or fewer.  The district’s staffing ratio is more like 1 principal to 20 or 30 staff at elementary school, and much higher at high schools.

The district has yet to figure out how to conduct on-site teacher observations, interviews, and written appraisals without adding substantially more administrators, at a time when citizens complain about the “excessive” dollars used to pay management staff.

Students’ needs are great as ever

At the same time, student needs haven’t declined.  The district has done some heavy lifting to raise test scores.  It has succeeded.  Compared to state data, the district has improved its test results on students meeting or exceeding proficiency in 17 categories on state exams, as opposed to 12 for the state.  As important, Jeffco continues to compete successfully with other metro area districts, even though it has experienced an increase from 20% to 30% of children considered low income, often with learning difficulties that need attention.

Money questions haunt districts

How much longer can a district with 81,000 students continue to march forward when money and related resources are marching backward?  Will today’s kindergarten class, graduates of 2024, receive the quality education they need and deserve because of declining revenues in 2011-12?

Will Colorado be able to build a strong economic base for today’s and tomorrow’s workers based on a weak public education foundation?  It’s usually a bright time when schools open their doors and windows in Colorado, but now, in 2011, the blinds are down, the hallways are dark, and too many doors for too many children are closing.

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Posted in Colorado Budget Crisis, Jeffco Public Schools, public schools, school finance reform |
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Colorado’s Evaluation-Compensation Pilot Proposal

Thursday, June 9th, 2011

The state of Colorado has embarked on an ambitious principal and teacher evaluation program that may change how teachers are compensated, retained, and dismissed.

Based on Colorado’s SB10-191 law, the Colorado Department of Education is creating evaluation criteria for principals and teachers that school districts will use by 2013.

The first pilot of principal evaluation will occur in 2011-12 in selected school districts.  The major evaluation categories include:

I: Principals demonstrate strategic leadership

II: Principals demonstrate instructional leadership

III: Principals demonstrate school culture and equity leadership

IV: Principals demonstrate human resource leadership

V: Principals demonstrate managerial leadership

VI: Principals demonstrate external development leadership

VII: Principals demonstrate leadership around student growth

A pilot of teacher evaluation will begin in 2012-13.  The major evaluation categories include:

I: Teachers demonstrate knowledge of the content they teach

II: Teachers establish a respectful learning environment for a diverse population of students

III: Teachers facilitate learning for their students

IV: Teachers reflect on their practice

V: Teachers demonstrate leadership

VI: Teachers take responsibility for student growth

The complete program, with evaluation revisions, will roll out in 2013-14.

Annual performance evaluation is a feature of employment in the private sector.  In many instances, compensation relates to the assessment.  A number of school districts, including the state’s largest, Jefferson County Schools, will base compensation on annual evaluation.

Jefferson County School District will use its bargaining relationship with its Associations to put together its evaluation-compensation program.  Due to huge budget cuts, the District engaged in a “Summit” in March, 2011, to find $40 million in cuts.  All Associations came together to identify where fees would rise, staffing trims would take place, and programs would end.  The outcome resulted in a 93 percent approval vote by Associations in support of their contracts, despite an across the board 3 percent salary reduction.

A task force from the Summit will recommend a strategic compensation program that may involve two salary platforms: one for current teachers and one for new teachers.

The new teacher program is likely to remove traditional annual step raises and level lifts.  Tuition assistance will replace levels and compensation based on performance will replace steps.

The new compensation system will create a capacity to increase income based on overall performance and incentives based on specific achievement targets or goals.  As an example, steps based on years may be replaced by steps based on “two consecutive years of meeting performance expectations.”  Incentive pay may occur for achieving specific targets, such as “all students score proficient or above on 3rd grade math assessment.”

Much of this work requires refinement and experimentation.  Currently the District is implementing a $37 million Teacher Incentive Fund (TIF) grant to determine whether incentive pay can substantially improve student academic performance in Title 1 schools.  Results of this study will affect the design of the District’s compensation and evaluation program.

Districts are beginning to incorporate some business practices from the private sector.  What’s unknown at this point is whether private sector practices, even well-tested best practices, will transfer to the public education environment.

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Posted in Colorado Budget Crisis, Jeffco Public Schools, TIF, Teacher Incentive fund |
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The Summit: Necessity is the Mother of Invention

Wednesday, April 6th, 2011

Public education funding in Colorado will decline $1000/per child per year from its high point in 2008 to its projected low point in 2013-14.  The $5600 per student funding in 2003 will be the state’s starting point in 2013.  It’s unknown when the state will return to its $6600 per student funding high hit in 2008.

School budgets going backward in Colorado

School districts across the state will see many more years of declining revenue because roughly 35 percent of school funding comes from property tax.  Property values have decreased, lowering the contribution from property tax payers to public schools.  These revenues will not return until property values increase, and with property appraisals occurring on a two year cycle, a decade may go by before districts get back to their 2008 level.

The state must backfill lost property tax revenue, but it doesn’t have any money either.  The budget gap for public school funding is still to be decided, but it will be somewhere between $250 million to $330 million in 2011-2012, and not any better in 2012-13.  All of this is depressing news, but sometimes out of darkness comes light.

Jefferson County Schools hit hard by cuts

Jefferson County School District, the largest in the state with 85,000 students and 14,000 employees, will be hard hit by the budget gap - at about $71 million in 2011-2012.  The district has $30 million in reserves, but still needs $40 million in additional cuts.  Jeffco was in the middle of its traditional negotiations when it received word from the state about the $40 million gap.

Necessity is the mother of invention.  The school board president, superintendent, and president of the teachers’ union were at a conference discussing new ways of dealing with school reform.  The three heard a presentation on a new negotiation process.  They decided to try it.

District tries new negotiation strategy; good things happen

Called the Summit, the negotiation brought together two board members, two members of the Jefferson County Education Association (JCEA), two members from the Jefferson County Administrators Association (JCAA), two members from the CSEA (Classified Service Employees Association), and the superintendent.  They worked with a federal administrator over three days and seventeen hours to complete an agreement.  The agreement foundation was this: take the whole deal or start over.

With so much at stake, the negotiators hunkered down.  They discussed salaries, work days, class sizes, transportation needs, fees, and programs.  They evaluated school closings.  Collectively, they put together a package to take to association groups and the Board.

Hard choices made together

They recommended closing two elementary schools, shutting down the District’s Outdoor Lab program in the Rockies, reducing salaries by three percent, taking six days out of the school year (four professional development days and two furlough days), charging for bus transportation, and boosting sports fees.

No one is happy, but most realize that it’s the best deal for the times.  One board member disagrees. She wants to take more out of salaries, reduce the district’s contribution to retirement plans, and hold employees to the 2010 work year calendar.  The Board, however, supported the negotiation in a 4-1 vote.

The Jeffco School Board will present the plan to the community in April and will vote on the final budget in May.  So far, the negotiations are well-received.  This successful process will probably form the new template for Jefferson County School District to manage its budget and employee relations.

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Posted in Colorado Budget Crisis, Jeffco Public Schools, public schools, school finance reform |
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