Committee formed to plan MUSD budget cuts

Maricopa Unified School District Superintendent Jeff Kleck has formed a budget committee to help formalize recommendations for $4 million to $5 million in cuts next school year.

“Last year we went with a huge committee created by the governing board to help make recommendations for the earlier $5 million in cuts,” Kleck said. “This year, because of some of the restrictions on committees created by the board, I decided to put together a superintendent’s advisory committee.”

The group is composed of five community members and five employees of the school district. These individuals will meet multiple times during the next three months to craft reduction recommendations for the 2011-2012 school year that will go to the Maricopa Unified School District’s Governing Board.

The district must have next year’s budget in place by June of 2011.

In the last round of budget cuts, positions for 10 custodians, two groundskeepers, three bus drivers, a shop supervisor, a handful of teachers and 23 paraprofessionals were eliminated. In addition, hours and benefits were reduced for all remaining paraprofessionals along with the amount of money paid to teachers to coach sports.

“When we were looking at areas to cut last year we had ham, turkey, roast beef and fish on the table,” Kleck said, refering to the various job positions that were eliminated. “This year all that is left is roast beef.”

“The cuts we have to make are going to be simple in that there are not a lot of options for areas to make those cuts,” said Kleck. “But at the same time the cuts are going to be difficult because we are talking about people’s jobs.”

According to Kleck, this year’s budget cuts will have to made mainly by eliminating teacher jobs.

The need for $4 million to $5 million in cuts stems from the district’s failed override continuation measure and projected cuts in school funding from the state legislature.

In addition to planning cuts for the coming school year, Kleck said the district must also grapple with the question of whether to put money aside from this year’s budget to help offset possible revenue declines next year.

“It is a difficult question, because if we save money, the state can come in and sweep those funds from us,” he said. “The state is in such dire straights it would not be a surprise if that happened.”