Clarendon College and local public schools are bracing themselves for what could be severe budget cuts as state legislators deal with a huge revenue shortfall this year.
Local officials are not yet sure how badly their budgets will be impacted as lawmakers in Austin search for ways to bridge the gap of an estimated deficit of between $15 billion and $27 billion, but they say people need to act now and makes their voices heard in support of education.
CC President Phil Shirley testified before the State House Appropriations Higher Education Subcommittee in Austin two weeks ago, and he reports that the college is facing the possible loss of between $800,000 and $1.3 million over the next two years. In the worst case, Shirley said CC would have to shed between 10 and 15 employees and look at every aspect of college spending.
“Nothing will be sacrosanct,” he said. “We’ll look at programs, the course offerings, everything. We’re just going to try to protect our students as much as we can.”
Gov. Rick Perry has said he is against balancing the budget by using the state’s Rainy Day Fund, which is expected to reach $9.8 billion by 2013. But many people, including Shirley, say now is the time to tap the fund.
“It is a wet and rainy day,” Shirley said, “and I can’t imagine how we could get to a time that we need it more. This is what it’s there for.”
Shirley says citizens need to speak up and let lawmakers know that education must be a priority.
“We have not shown that we care [about our community college],” he said. “They need some voices that they can hear down there. If people got together and spoke up, I feel they would back off.”
Clarendon School Superintendent Monty Hysinger agreed with Shirley and said it is time for the public to get involved.
“People need to understand the seriousness of what’s happening,” Hysinger said. “I’ve never seen it this bad.”
Clarendon ISD has been told to expect a reduction in state funds of between five and 15 percent, which amounts to $250,000 to $750,000 per year, Hysinger said.
“We can deal with $250,000, but we would have to look at attrition,” Hysinger said. “It would get rid of any discretionary spending, and beyond that would come from employees or programs.”
Some changes that Hysinger says would be on the table would be to make HeadStart a half-day class, Pre-Kindergarten could be eliminated or turned into a half-day or tuition-based program, and even Kindergarten could be cut to half a day. Clarendon ISD might also have to end its policy of paying for high school students’ dual credit classes at Clarendon College and put those tuition and fee costs back on the parents.
“The problem really is that the state created a new funding system for public schools two years ago, and they knew then that a deficit was in the future,” Hysinger said. “It’s not a result of poor management at local schools. Texas schools are growing by 80,000 students per year, and we’re going back to 2005 level funding? We want our kids to be competitive.”
Hysinger said even a five percent cut leaves no room for state mandated teacher salary increases.
Hedley Superintendent Eric Hough says he’s following developments in Austin closely and says a 15 percent cut in state funds would impact his school by about $241,000.
“That would be difficult but not impossible,” Hough said. “We’ve streamlined personnel about as much as we can, so we would have to look at putting off purchases and other ways to save money.”
Hough agreed with Shirley and Hysinger that people need to let their elected
representatives know if they support education.
“The more they hear from parents that just goes a long ways toward influencing decision making,” Hough said.
All three men said they think the final state budget won’t be as bad as the worst case scenarios, but they still said people need to speak up now.
“It is early, and things will change,” Shirley said. “The big question is: ‘What are our priorities?’”
Donley County residents can contact their elected officials by writing Rep. Warren Chisum, P.O. Box 2910,
Austin, TX 78768, and Sen. Robert Duncan, P.O. Box 12068, Austin, Texas 78711. Or telephone by calling Chisum at (512) 463-0736 or Duncan at 800-322-9538.
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