Agenda - 03-03-2015 - 6a - Laserfiche WebLink

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8 1 said CHCCS does not have the fine detailed information that Commissioner Dorosin is 2 requesting. 3 Michelle Brownstein said she wants to make sure the Board understands that the 4 schools were not asking for an expansion budget, and there were already significant staffing 5 cuts. 6 Mike Kelly said these cuts will mean an expansion in class sizes, and cuts to athletic 7 programs. 8 Commissioner Dorosin said he finds it unacceptable that neither school system joined 9 the lawsuits against the state. He said the only way this legislature has been beaten back is in 10 the courts. He is not going to support an increase in the district tax; however, he will support a 11 property tax increase. 12 Michael Talbert said the CHCCS superintendent recommended a budget that was 13 $900,000 less than what the school board requested, but the board did not go along with this. 14 He said this can be provided to the Commissioners. 15 Michelle Brownstein said the prioritization is also reflected in the school board 16 documents from the meeting that was held a week later. 17 Mike Kelly said the school board did not agree with the cuts recommended by the 18 superintendent. 19 Commissioner McKee asked if this information is related to the memo that was sent out 20 on May 28tH 21 Michelle Brownstein said yes. 22 Commissioner McKee asked if the full time employee (FTE) reductions in that memo 23 factored in the legislation. 24 Michelle Brownstein said that was before the senate's budget was announced. 25 Commissioner McKee said he had asked for this information a couple of meetings ago 26 from CHCCS. He said this information was not that helpful. He said he needs to know the 27 prioritizations, and he would like to know why the school board did not follow the 28 superintendent's budget but asked for more. He said the County is not flush with money, and 29 the request seemed overaggressive. 30 He said the reductions from the state are serious. He asked what accommodations 31 would be made due to teacher reductions. 32 Michelle Brownstein said teacher reductions mean more children will be in the 33 classrooms and teacher/student ratio would increase. 34 Mike Kelly said there is an acceptable threshold in order to teach a class. He said there 35 has been some flexibility in some courses that are taught in a series. He said this is being 36 enforced more now, where 20 students are being required for first courses, rather than 15 37 students. 38 Michelle Brownstein said the administrative estimate for that ratio was that it would 39 result in a loss of three full time employees. 40 Commissioner McKee said he is still not sure how this relates to a reduction in full time 41 employees if this was already a policy, and there was just an increase in the beginning size of 42 the beginning class. 43 Mike Kelly said the higher beginning number resulted in a higher ending number and 44 saved about one position at each of the high schools. 45 Commissioner McKee said that would make sense at any rate and that would be the 46 goal even if you were not in this situation. 47 Mike Kelly said that would mean fewer courses for students to take. 48 Commissioner McKee asked about the reference to counselors. 49 Mike Kelly said one of their goals for this year was to review their counseling program. 50 He said this was to be launched through a contracted study that would have cost $30,000.