Most people’s eyes gloss over when the conversation turns to
governmental budgets. But this week and next, as tens of thousands of
students return to classrooms across the city, government budgets will
be forefront in the minds of many.
“It’s hard to even fathom how we’ll get through this year,” admits
Judy Burns, chair of the Tucson Unified School District’s (TUSD)
governing board. “It’s scary to me. … The next two years will be very
difficult.
“There’s been a 14 percent cut at every school. That’s a lot. We’re
bare-bones out there. Teachers are upset, and they’re being asked to do
more, but not for any more money. It’s a very bad situation.”
The district’s chief financial officer, Bonnie Betz, sums up her
approach to the evolving TUSD budget in just a few words: “We’re
planning for the worst, and hoping for the best,” she says.
Part of the district’s dilemma has to do with the continuing
gyrations in the state of Arizona’s budgetary process. With that
situation still unresolved—as of our press deadline, this fiscal
year’s budget was still not in place—financial agencies that
receive state funds have had to make fluid plans.
“I’ve been doing four budgets all along,” Betz says about the last
several months. “How the heck are you supposed to plan with that
(uncertainty)?”
The best-case scenario for TUSD, Betz believes, is a general budget
for the current fiscal year of $365 million.
More than 60 percent of those funds are supplied by the
cash-strapped state. Betz also points out that continuing declines in
TUSD enrollment also negatively impact the district financially.
The $365 million figure compares favorably to the district’s actual
adopted budget for the current fiscal year of $353 million. It looks
rosy next to the $347 million number the district is actually using
currently for budgetary purposes.
However, Betz admits that by Oct. 1, there’s a good chance that
latter figure could shrink even further. Betz says it might go as low
as $337 million, which is her worst-case outlook.
Betz says the district will have to spend the entire $5 million it
has in savings to help cover the shortfall if that reduction
occurs.
For her part, Burns is worried about what could happen if the
district is forced to burn through its savings.
“We’d have nothing for something that could come up,” she says,
pointing to the sudden rise in gas prices last year as an example of an
unforeseen budgetary crisis.
“I hope it doesn’t turn out as bad as it looks like it might,” Burns
says about TUSD’s budget situation. “We’d have to have layoffs in the
middle of the year.”
Reflecting on the deteriorating state of fiscal affairs for
education in Arizona, Burns observes: “We’re competing against states
that spend twice as much as we do.”
Jim Florian, director of the UA’s Budget Office, has a somewhat
similar philosophy about what should happen once things start to
improve with Arizona’s economy.
“The state,” he says, “will hopefully see the value of reinvesting
back into both K-12 and higher education. That brings jobs of a higher
level.”
Until that turnaround occurs, Florian says, the university is taking
a realistic approach to budget planning. The UA started the last fiscal
year with a $418 million general-fund budget; for the current fiscal
year, that amount was reduced several months ago to $363 million.
That number, Florian says, is the most the university can reasonably
expect this fiscal year—and it could go as low as $346 million,
which is the base amount required to receive federal stimulus
funds.
“We’re being conservative and flexible,” Florian says of the
university’s budget. “A budget is a plan subject to change, so we’re
planning at the $363 million level, with contingencies.”
The drastic cuts to its budget earlier this year forced the
university to leave 600 positions unfilled. If the budget is reduced
further, Florian says the impact will be traumatic.
“There’s a point beyond which you can’t take away from everyone,” he
explains about across-the-board budget-cutting. “So we plan in terms of
the scope of what (further budget reductions) mean.”
As for possibly having to cut from $363 million to $346 million,
Florian says: “That’s an (entire) college.”
On top of that budget-reduction scenario, Florian adds: “Planning
for fiscal year 2012 is difficult, because that’s a (budgetary) cliff.
There won’t be any federal stimulus dollars any longer, and limited
tuition increases.”
In the meantime, Gov. Jan Brewer and her fellow Republicans in the
Legislature continue to wage political war over the state’s budget. In
a press release issued last week, the governor again blasted members of
the state Senate for having “so little trust in the voters that they
would once again delay the passage of a sound state budget.”
Meanwhile, Brewer’s spokesman, Paul Senseman, continues to strongly
push the governor’s budget proposal that includes asking voters to
approve a temporary sales-tax increase.
Until the budget situation is resolved, Senseman says, the
governor’s office has a straightforward message for agencies which
receive state funds.
“Revenues are declining,” he says, “so they should restrict their
spending to the most critical areas.”
This article appears in Aug 20-26, 2009.
As a parent these budget cuts are nuts. My children both attend MUSD & TUSD districts and the schools on both sides are hurting. At the High School, the district cut funding for books & capital equipment, i.e. chairs, desks, etc. My daughter has a set of class books that can only be used in the classroom, if she has homework outside of school hours they can go to the bookstore to check out books, if they are available. I’m not complaining, but I spent $130+ for class fees. Fees for dual enrolled courses at PCC (which I believe parents should pay for), but I had to also pay for her fees for orchestra. When the district first talked about cuts, they suggested cutting music education, which reminds me of our wonderful state representatives. Let’s cut what we think is not important. My youngest attends the Special Education Preschool, because she was diagnosed with Autism last year. For her class I spent about $100 on supplies. My other daughter attends elementary school in TUSD and there were changes that had to be implemented at her school. The cut that stands out the most was they had to cut their Art Education program. All in all, it looks like in the end the State is going to wind up with a bunch of uneducated hillbillies, who wouldn’t be able to tell you who Da Vinci was, let alone who Bach was or is. Nice going idiots, thanks to all the representatives, Democrats & Republicans, who because of their own special interests are going to force our children to pay for their mistakes.