Education budget The state Board of Education is considering a proposed two-year budget adding only $60.9 million onto the current budget for textbooks, equipment and staffing for new classrooms and to execute President Bush's No Child Left Behind mandate and limit class sizes for kindergarten to second grade.
plan on table
The board considers a proposal
and will weigh priorities to
meet schools' needsBy Leila Fujimori
lfujimori@starbulletin.comThe school board meets today in Honokaa on the Big Island to discuss the Department of Education operating budgets for 2003-2004 and 2004-2005.
BOE Budget Chairwoman Karen Knudsen expects the board to accept the proposal today to go $32.8 million higher than the current budget for fiscal year 2004 and $28.1 million higher in fiscal year 2005.
"We need to identify our current budget priorities and determine whether those should be re-prioritized to meet these additional needs," said Ed Koyama, DOE budget director.
"We do not have money lying around," Koyama said. "We are intending to comply with the budget requirements in an austere as possible a manner. On the other hand, we do not want to propose something that is absolutely ridiculous."
However, state Schools Superintendent Pat Hamamoto had recommended to the Budget Committee a proposal of $14.2 million above the base budget in fiscal year 2004 and $3.5 million in 2005.
"We were impressed with how frugal they were and how they did try to stick with not having any growth," Knudsen said of what she called a "bare bones" proposal. "We needed to be a little more realistic."
The DOE was asked to keep within its annual base budget of $1.39 billion, which comes from the state general fund, when the state Department of Budget & Finance issued spending ceilings to all state departments Sept. 5.
Its base total budget of $1.56 billion includes federal and special funds. The additional funding each year would boost the total to about $1.59 billion.
Hamamoto said it would be premature to speculate about the possibility of cutting any programs.
"We would have to monitor the budget very closely, and the expenditures and the impact on the department, and then take a look at the different options, which may be reductions or reallocations," Hamamoto said.
"The possibility is always there that we may have to go through some budget changes," Hamamoto conceded. "It's just the nature of the funding and state economy."
The budget proposal would fund the following major programs:
>> To carry out the federal No Child Left Behind mandate, the committee is requesting $3,542,086 for 2004 and $10,434,363 for 2005. The additional funding includes an increase in salaries for educational assistants due to an increase in educational requirements.That federal law would require high-poverty schools that have not shown adequate progress to meet state academic standards for two consecutive years and offer students the option to transfer to better-performing schools.
>> The superintendent also requested $10,218,332 for the purchase of program equipment and textbooks for new schools and new classrooms.
>> The board's new policy to cap class sizes in kindergarten to second grade would also cost an additional $2.24 million for 73 new teachers in 2004 and $2.81 million in 2005 for 77 teachers.
State Board of Education
