EBR School Board critiques budget
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The East Baton Rouge Parish School Board raised many questions Tuesday, but did not suggest significant changes to its $424 million proposed general operating budget.
Board President Jerry Arbour and member Jill Dyason told Superintendent Charlotte Placide they like her idea of raising by $500 to $4,000 the annual stipend the school system pays to teachers who gain accreditation from the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards.
But they urged her to drop a related idea: to pay an additional $1,000 a year to those who teach in low-performing schools, saying it would divide teachers unfairly and might lead some to leave the school system.
“If we wish to encourage them to teach in those schools, let’s do it another way,” Arbour said.
Placide said she would consider raising the stipend of all National Board-certified teachers to $5,000 a year to match the stipend the state gives those teachers.
The School Board plans to approve the budget at its June 22 meeting.
The proposed general operating budget for the 2009-2010 fiscal year shows the school system’s current $59 million surplus shrinking to just $31 million by the end of June 2010.
Declining state per-pupil funding, takeovers of eight low-performing schools last year, unfunded state mandates, rising health-care costs, and continued spending by the school system on other priorities are the main factors driving the changing budget picture.
The general operating budget represents roughly two-thirds of all school system spending. The budget pays for most employee salaries and operating expenses.
The proposed 2009-2010 fiscal year general operating budget shows the school system spending $424 million but raising only $389 million in revenue. The $35 million difference accounts for most of the expected decline in the surplus.
If approved, the budget would mark the second year in a row the school system is spending far more than it’s taking in.
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