Waiting for the numbers

Sure, they're concerned about the latest budget numbers coming out of Tallahassee. But area school district leaders aren't sounding the alarms as loudly as Miami-Dade superintendent Rudy Crew, who has suggested he might have to lay off hundreds of workers to balance the ledger sheet.

"We've planned for reductions," Hillsborough school district spokeswoman Linda Cobbe told the Gradebook. The administration is monitoring the Legislature, but "we don't anticipate laying off anyone."

The message was much the same from Pinellas and Pasco counties.

"Early in the year we anticipated the revenue cuts," Pinellas spokeswoman Andrea Zahn said.

The first round of cuts - $4.5-million - came from department budgets. The next round - an expected $5-million more - will come from reserves. "So we do not anticipate any layoffs," Zahn said.

Pasco superintendent Heather Fiorentino (left) said she and her finance team are paying close attention to the reports coming from the Florida Association of District School Superintendents and keeping tabs on the State Board of Administration, which handles some of the district's funds, too.

The news might seem dire, Fiorentino told the Gradebook. But lawmakers have to fully fund the class-size amendment, she said, and it does no good to predict how bad things might be until the actual numbers are in hand.

"Nothing scares me until the gavel goes down," said Fiorentino, a former state House member.

Comments

[terminator]

Rudy's full of crap.

Just the usual scare tactics. The same kind that were pushed by local governments in the wake of Amendment One.

Dade County Schools has 150 administrators making over $100K+ per year. Rudy himself makes over $450K and gets a $50K bonus even though Dade has the largest number of D/F schools.

They've got assistant to associate to deputy superintendents. No one really knows what all these people do but it sure doesn't have anything to do with students, schools, classrooms and teachers.

There's more pork in their budget than you could find on an Iowa swine farm.

Go ahead and lay off Rudy. See how far that get's you!

We'll call your bluff and raise you.

[me]

Maybe Ms. Fiorentino's Secretary to the secretary to the secretary to the assistant and 100 grant specialists should also be returned to the classroom to meet the class size amendment. It is the CLASS SIZE AMENDMENT...NOT DISTRICT SIZE AMENDMENT...A lot of chiefs and not enough indians.

[terminator]

geez, even little bitty Pasco County is packing the ranks of bureaucracy too?
I thought it was mostly the large districts.
Hope the teacher guy running against her wins.
Every teacher in the county should be ashamed of themselves if they and their families don't vote for the teacher!

[me]

termie...Pasco residents already made one mistake by voting for a teacher without a master's degree...her name is Fiorentiono....I don't think we need a repeated mistake....Pasco needs to go with appointment not elected.