APS Teammates:

We have done a preliminary review of the staff budget survey feedback. I appreciate the good ideas that you’ve shared. The parent survey is open until the end of the month, and we will also consider this feedback. In addition, the Special Budget Advisory Committee has met once and will meet again on Feb. 25. We are looking forward to continued insight from this committee, which is comprised of representatives from AEA, CEC, SEA, parents and the community. At this point, I want to share a timeframe for budget reductions and respond to questions we’ve received about the process.

TIMEFRAME

To start, we are currently gathering data on the additional suggestions for possible reductions we have received from staff. We will then provide this information to the BOE and they will provide guidance on a list of preliminary reduction decisions in early March so that schools can work staffing plans for the 2010-11 school year.

We will continue to identify additional reductions as we learn more. Revenue forecasts will be provided to the state Joint Budget Committee in March and will drive the decision for rescission amounts. The legislative session will end in early May, resulting in final decisions on K-12 finance cuts and we will know our final budget cuts.

The District Accountability Advisory Committee will host a public budget hearing on May 20 to review the budget and make recommendations to the board. After this, we will present the Board of Education a 2010-11 adopted budget for review and approval with an effective date of July 1.

GOOD NEWS

One of the most positive pieces of information received, so far, is a $500,000 reduction in the $2.4 million renewal cost from our health care providers. Human Resources staff members continue negotiating and working with our broker and health carriers to minimize premium costs.

CLARIFICATION

I want to assure you that we remain committed to engaging in a budget reduction process that is thoughtful, collaborative and transparent. I have said that transparency can be a messy process. What this means is that under transparency, every decision and action that we take is in the public eye. As a result, there are times when we could have been clearer.

• One example involves the preliminary TE (staffing) sheets that we provided principals earlier this month. Our goal was to help principals and school staff members consider how possible reductions could impact staffing for 2010-11. We were striving to be proactive, but it may have appeared that we had already made decisions about the proposed budget reductions related to TE. No decisions have been made at this time.
• Another example involves our communication with AEA. We met with the AEA president and the UniServ Director to discuss the anticipated state budget cuts and the 29 items under consideration as we did with CEC and SEA leaders. At this meeting, because we were considering these options, we provided AEA with clear and unambiguous written notice of our intent to change the high school duty schedule by adding a 6th period and to assign APS teachers to student supervision, as permitted by the current agreement between AEA and APS. We were legally required to give this notice to AEA in case either of these items is approved in the final budget reduction process by the BOE. Of course, we have the right to rescind this notice, if these items are removed from consideration.
• There were recent news reports that may have been misleading about APS adopting a four-day work week. Although we welcome the news coverage, I want to emphasize that we have NOT made a decision about this. Preliminary analysis indicates that a four-day work week is only a cost saving strategy for rural districts to significantly save transportation costs.

BOND FUNDS

We continue to receive questions about how we are using 2008 bond funds. I want to emphasize that we are not legally allowed to use any of the $215 million bond funds to alleviate our budget shortfall. This is why we are continuing with construction projects, such as the P-20 campus, Aurora Hills rebuild and construction/technical support for every school. The professional development center is being financed by remaining funds from the 2002 bond.

MILL FUNDS

I hope you have had the opportunity to review the mill chart that we provided in previous updates, superintendent.aurorak12.org/budget/promise-to-voters/. Here is additional information about our mill funds:

• We have already used a portion of mill funds to meet our promise of recruiting and retaining highly qualified staff with the $3.8 million used for our retroactive GSI (applied to salaries in December 2008). In addition, by July 1 of this year, all items in the $14.7 million list will be fully committed.
• We have received feedback about delaying some of the instructional programs funded by the mill, including the health sciences and STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) pathways and the International Baccalaureate Programme. This is not possible because of our promise to voters.
• Our students must be in class every day engaged in learning if they are to be successful. Due to the work of the mill-funded Truancy Reduction Team and our schools, truancy has continued to decrease each year. At the onset of the program, APS had 4,500 habitual truants. Last year we reduced that number to 3,621, a decrease of almost 900 students. The first semester of this year showed a reduction of 20% from the same time period as last year. This year, the Truancy Reduction Team brought more than $1.5 million in student funding to APS.
• Our mill-funded work around Equity Transformation will ensure that all staff, students and parents receive equity training that supports our strategic plan. Our equity focus is on raising the achievement of all students while narrowing the gaps between the highest and lowest performing students and eliminating racial predictability related to student achievement.

The budget reduction process is a challenging one. I commend all of you who have participated in the feedback process. We are considering all possibilities and will continue to be thoughtful, collaborative and transparent but this challenge is one of the largest ever faced by APS.

For more information on the APS Budget, please visit superintendent.aurorak12.org/budget.

JB

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