17 Jun 2003
Moses: Funding Cuts Have Presented Challenges, Priorities Have Remained on Students, Teachers
DALLAS—Dallas Independent School District Superintendent Mike Moses on Tuesday presented a $1.034 billion balanced budget proposal to the Board of Trustees that includes pay increases for teachers, and prioritizes spending in areas focused on the needs of the district's 164,000 students.
"We are proposing a budget that is balanced, that focuses on the needs of our students, and that provides our teachers with additional compensation," Moses said. "While we have been faced with the difficulties of the financing of our public school system statewide, we think we have proposed a budget that is wise, fiscally sound, and tells the taxpayers that we are acting responsibly when it comes to spending tax dollars for our schoolchildren."
The proposed 2003-04 budget increases from $1.024 billion in 2002-03 to $1.034 billion, making it the second budget in DISD history to exceed a billion dollars.
The proposed budget would provide all DISD teachers with a step increase in pay, with those at the maximum step receiving an increase of 2.5 percent. It also is being recommended that the district's longevity plan for teachers remain in place.
Under the proposal, district support staff will move to a new 39-grade, 23-step pay schedule that has been developed by the Deloitte and Touche Compensation Outlook project. Under the proposal, support staff on a step schedule will receive a $1,250 flat rate annual increase. An additional $1 million will be applied to the support salary schedule. Those who are above the scale under the new proposal will receive the greater of their current salary or a 2.5 percent increase in pay.
Moses said the district's efforts to propose a total of $453,000 in general operating and other funds to pay for $3,000 stipends for bilingual counselors, certain professional and support classifications and bilingual special education teachers should help make the district more attractive to personnel with these skills.
Campus leadership, technical staff and central office staff will enter a new 16-grade pay schedule. All employees paid on a range schedule will receive a 3 percent pay increase under the proposed budget. Those leadership, technical or central office employees above the maximum of the new schedule will receive the greater of their current salary or 2.5 percent more than the range maximum.
"We have tried to propose a budget that is fair to our employees and rewards them for the work they are doing to improve this district," Moses said. "There have been challenges in formulating this budget, such as a cut of between $500 and $1,000 flow-thru money for employee health insurance compensation. While we were not able to replace the funds that were allocated in the past by the Legislature for health insurance, we are more than making up the difference in salary increases, and we are proposing a switch to TRS Active Care from the state for health insurance for our employees."
The superintendent also said that an additional $3.5 million in contingency funds have been set aside to ensure that the district can match the $225 monthly contribution for each employee enrolled in TRS Active Care.
"We believe the enrollment in the health insurance plan offered by the district will increase and with that will come the requirement for the district to pay an additional $225 in matching funds per employee per month," Moses said. "We believe moving to TRS Active Care is the best move we can make in the area of health insurance coverage for our employees."
The superintendent said that adjustments in the district's proposed budget include increases in payroll costs of $49.8 million, which includes the costs associated with rolling former Edison Schools teachers from contracted services accounts back into payroll accounts of the district. Other cost increases include an additional $2.6 million for supplies and materials, and an additional $1.6 million for capital outlay costs.
Cuts in the budget include a reduction of more than $41 million for purchased/contracted services, this includes $12 million in cuts by ending the Edison School contract and cuts in other operating expenses of more than $3 million.
The superintendent said the cost of the compensation program will be an additional $30.6 million. Additionally, the Legislature will require an additional $3.3 million be paid in payroll taxes of district employees.
The superintendent said the district saved $12 million by adding an additional teaching period for teachers and eliminating 350 campus-level positions. Another 96 non-teaching positions were eliminated, saving taxpayers another $2.3 million.
"School districts throughout the state have been met with significant challenges this year when it comes to funding their operations," Moses said. "We have done a good job in addressing these challenges. The situation of funding public schools in Texas is in a state of crisis. I have said this many times before. Because of the cuts in funding coming from the state and federal governments, we are being forced to rely more upon property taxes of local citizens. We've made no secret over the past year that we would likely need to raise our property tax rate on maintenance and operations to the $1.50 cap this year. That is now our recommendation. We see no other alternative if we are to be responsible and propose a balanced budget to this board and to the taxpayers of Dallas."
The tax increase will be an increase of $0.02197 per $100 of value on a home in the district per year. To an owner of a $100,000 home, this could mean an additional $21.97 in property taxes to be paid each year.
Through the tax increase, funding from the state, and an additional $91,000 in special revenues, the district should receive an increase $22.4 million in funding for the 2003-04 budget. But, the superintendent cautioned trustees about what might happen to the budget if certified tax rolls from the county appraisal district are less than projections in July.
"We already are projecting a 1 percent decrease in funding from the certified tax rolls in July, Moses said. "What we have to be ready for is if they decrease by even more. We have worked hard to propose a balanced budget. If revenues from the county appraisal district are lower than current projections we will be forced to consider other options such as dipping into our fund balance reserves, or making additional cuts to the budget."