GAINESVILLE - Hall County School Superintedent Will Schofield began laying the groundwork Monday night for a leaner budget for the upcoming school year.
Among the measures suggested by Schofield, and approved unanimously by the board, was discontinuing the use of the Iowa Test of Basic Skills (ITBS) for 3rd, 5th and 8th graders.
Saying that teachers are ready to "spend more time teaching and less time testing," Schofield projected cost savings the first year to be $40,000. He said savings the following year would be $300,000, since the school system would be obligated to purchase new testing materials.
Dr. Eloise Barron, Assistant Superintendent for Teaching and Learning, said traditionally ITBS has allowed Hall County to compare local student scores with scores from across the nation, but the test is not as viable as it once was.
"We feel that we're spending quite a bit of money each year to administer those tests, yet we're really not getting the data back that we need for the comparisons that we're wanting to do," said Barron.
Other cost-saving measures that likely will appear in the new budget: increasing class size by 1-2 students system-wide; eliminating 20 teaching positions through attrition; and, implementing 8-10 furlough days.
Despite the bleak outlook, Schofield said he expects the system will underspend the current budget by $5 million this year.
"That is a reflection of 3,400 team members understanding the financial straits that we're in and making decisions on a daily basis to use one less copy, to turn the lights off when they leave a room, to not request a new book when they can make an old one do," said Schofield.
The school board will get a look at a tentative budget on June 11 and the final budget will be presented on June 25, according to Schofield.
Monday
October 21st, 2024
5:36AM
