Leading Question

Although teaching positions haven’t been touched in Lee County, classroom aides and other support jobs have been sacrificed, says Mark Castellano, president of the Teachers Association of Lee County. "When you don’t have a paraprofessional in the classroom that needs a paraprofessional, that’s going to impact kids directly."

Joe Donzelli, director of communications for Lee County Schools, says most of the trimming—a result of lower enrollment than expected and state budget cuts—has been at the expense of the district office, where 155 jobs were eliminated. That accounted for $7 million of the $20 million slashed from the 2007-2008 budget. The district needed another $29 million in cuts for the 2008-2009 school year.

There aren’t any substantial cuts to programs or classes this year, but that might not be true next school year, he adds. "There’s no more fat to trim; we are now cutting muscle and bone."

In the 2008-’09 school year, Lee students will lose two days of after-school activities and intramural sports, and they’ll have to wait another year for replacement of band uniforms and fine arts equipment, which puts more pressure on parent and booster groups to pick up the slack, says Castellano.

Collier is in a better position than most Florida school districts, because it began planning last year what changes would have the least impact on the classroom, says Jonathan Tuttle, executive director of the Collier County Education Association. Between $4 million and $5 million has been cut in central administration costs, and the number of deans, program specialists and those who monitor Exceptional Student Education (ESE) programs have been reduced. The school board also is considering outsourcing custodial services.

About $40 million has been cut from the 2007-2008 and 2008-2009 school years, says Collier district superintendent Dennis Thompson. Use of a planning model to streamline funding led to the cuts in central administration, but also freed up funds to add reading and math specialists, ESE teachers (while eliminating 30 assistants) and seven assistant principals.

Students this year might feel the impact from losing such positions as high school guidance counselors, says Tuttle. But Thompson argues that all students will have access to counselors; those the district trimmed were assigned to gifted children. "[Students will] be getting the same services. We just won’t be as specialized or have as many people."

Lee schools’ individual budgets are likely to feel the cuts. For instance, three police officers might staff sporting events instead of five, Donzelli explains. And Castellano worries that the loss of discretionary funding might cut into school supplies.

Collier district officials hope a November referendum will give the district the ability to shift capital funds to operational needs. If that doesn’t happen, Collier will be "going through the same pain" as other districts, Thompson says.

"We’ve been able for these last two years to absorb a lot of reductions using some fairly sophisticated strategies. I’ve pulled every rabbit out of the hat that I can," he says. "If I have to take the same level of reductions next year, there will be major cuts to student programs. There’s no way to avoid it."