Layoffs Back on the Table for APS

Jul 30, 2010 — Albuquerque Journal

Hailey Heinz

Jul. 30, 2010 (McClatchy-Tribune Regional News delivered by Newstex) -- Albuquerque Public Schools may face layoffs, more furloughs and the elimination of small administrative departments as it wrestles with the latest round of budget cuts.

And the notion of suing the state for more money is not off the table.

Those are some ideas APS Superintendent Winston Brooks is considering after the state announced last week that schools, universities and government agencies will face a 3.2 percent budget cut this year because of sagging state revenues.

APS already received $24 million less from the state this year than last, after cuts made during the special legislative session in March.

The new reduction will force APS to trim $19 million from its $601 million operating budget. And another several million will have to be cut from other funding streams like transportation, instructional materials and early childhood education.

Brooks said Thursday it will be hard to cut the budget without affecting personnel, since salary and benefits make up 88 percent of the district's operating budget. He spoke about ideas he is considering, but cautioned that his staff is still in the early planning stages.

Any cuts would take effect in mid-September.

But previous methods of cutting the budget may not work this time:

If the district adds too many more furlough days for teachers and principals, it could send many of them below their state-mandated salary floors.

The tight timing makes it harder to bring in principals to make school-specific cuts the way principals did last spring.

Attrition, which helped see APS through its last round of cuts, has been largely exhausted.

Brooks said he has always aimed to keep cuts away from the classroom, but each round of cuts makes that harder to do.

He said school districts and unions plan to make a strong appearance at an Aug. 12 meeting of the state Board of Finance, where the board will have the option to approve the cuts or not.

Brooks said the state has a constitutional obligation to adequately fund public education, and he did not rule out filing a lawsuit if the state keeps cutting education at the rate it has been. That decision would ultimately fall to the school board, which would likely team up with boards around the state in the event of a lawsuit.

"I do think we're getting to a point where we cannot adequately educate kids," Brooks said.

He said the shrinking budget makes it hard to continue with education reforms like a program to get more kids ready for college, extended school days and stipends at Rio Grande High and Ernie Pyle Middle schools.

Albuquerque Teachers Federation President Ellen Bernstein wrote in a letter to the Journal that she is opposed to the cuts and supports tax increases instead.

"An additional 3.2 percent cut to education is untenable, unfair to the children we teach, and a setup for cataclysmic failure in our public schools," she wrote.

Bernstein specifically suggests a dime-a-drink alcohol tax, and generally calls on legislators to come back to the table and "solve this problem in a more innovative way."

Although Brooks agreed the cuts are difficult and said he hopes to avoid them, he also said he needs to make a plan in case the cuts are confirmed.

"We can do all we want about 'Rah, rah, rah, give 'em hell,' " he said. "But I better darn well have some plan I can present to the board."

The timeline for approving a revised budget is still uncertain, but Brooks said next Wednesday's board meeting will likely be too soon for definite action.

Newstex ID: KRTB-0010-47474204