Schools brace Teachers in the gifted and talented programs at the public schools could be among the hardest hit by across-the-board cuts to the Department of Education budget.
for teacher cuts
About 20% of the full-time teachers
for gifted students will fall victim
to declining tax revenues
By Treena Shapiro
tshapiro@starbulletin.comIn a budget proposal that will be presented to the Board of Education on Thursday, the gifted and talented program stands to lose funding for 20.5 of its 100.5 full-time positions.
Last year, the state headcount in gifted and talented classes was about 16,000. However, some students were counted more than once.
With budget cuts and underfunded programs, the DOE anticipates a shortfall of as much as $47 million, which means cuts to all programs except special education. That's on top of the $15 million already cut from the schools budget this fiscal year.
For most programs, the cuts translate into less money for supplies and equipment, or a few staff vacancies that will be left unfilled. However, the gifted and talented program uses most of its allocations for staff and services, so a cut of more than $1 million means fewer full-time positions.
"While it's recognized that it appears to be taking the brunt of the cuts ... there are other alternatives the schools can look into," said DOE spokesman Greg Knudsen.
For example, he said schools can opt to keep the positions by reallocating funds.
Teachers whose positions in the gifted and talented program are lost will likely be hired in another capacity, Knudsen said.
Betsy Moneymaker, educational specialist in charge of the gifted and talented program, said most of the program's positions go to secondary schools for a variety of gifted, honors or advanced -placement courses.
"They fund those kinds of courses we would want to support. It's our ticket to providing our kids the best possible options for post-high school educational doorways," she said.
The elementary schools get 20 itinerant teachers, who offer enrichment courses, such as performing arts, to a group of schools with in a complex, which includes a high school and all the elementary and middle schools that feed into it.
Determining how to deal with 20 position cuts will be heart-wrenching, Moneymaker said. "It's a fight between elementary, where that's your nurturing, stimulating effort to put these kids on track," and secondary, where the students need the courses to prepare for college, she said.
The proposed cuts are similar to those outlined in scenarios given to the Legislature in February when the DOE was asked to report on the effect of 3 percent, 4 percent and 5 percent cuts. In the budget approved by this spring's legislative session, all state departments were ordered to cut 2 percent, which equaled about $15 million for the DOE.
Earlier this month, however, the Cayetano administration announced that state tax revenues for the fiscal year ended June 30 were down $88 million from the previous fiscal year. The shortfall was much higher than the administration and state Legislature had anticipated and prompted Cayetano to look at possible further budget cuts.
"While we had a sigh of relief when we were held to a 2 percent reduction, it now appears that another 2 percent reduction will be called for through the governor's restriction," Knudsen said.
Besides the budget cuts, the DOE also must adjust its budget to make up for $32 million for programs that were not sufficiently funded during the last legislative session, including $5.5 million to charter schools, $19 million for the Felix response plan, $4 million for bus transportation and $3.5 million for wage increases for teachers who have completed professional development programs.
