School Board votes to restore art, music programs

July 30--The School Board on Tuesday directed Superintendent of Schools George Tomyn to fully restore music and art teachers back to all elementary schools.

Board member Ron Crawford launched the debate during a public hearing, where the maximum millage and tentative budget was adopted.

Though budget workshops next month are normally the settings for such debates, Crawford made a motion Tuesday night to make sure it was considered a priority.

He said there's "a little wiggle room" in the 2014-15 budget to start adding back teachers who were removed over the years to cut costs. The district's 2014-15 general fund budget is $18.1 million more than last school year.

In 2013-14, Tomyn reduced the number of art and music teachers at about 30 elementary schools by half.

Before the cuts, most of the schools each had one full-time art teacher and one full-time music teacher. After the cuts, schools had to share music and art teachers and the district had planned to continue the practice in 2014-15.

School Board Chairman Bobby James pleaded for the board to address the issue at four scheduled budget workshops next month. He said that's the proper time to make additions to the budget.

Though Crawford agreed with James in principle that budget workshops are the place to make such requests, he wanted to do it now so that school administrators could start hiring teachers before school starts back Aug. 18.

Board members Nancy Stacy and Angela Boynton agreed with Crawford and the motion passed 3-2, with James and board member Carol Ely dissenting.

Crawford's motion stated that the district can spend up to $1.85 million of unused funds from last year, often called fund balance that rolled over from 2013-14 into the 2014-15 budget.

The passage also launched another debate about the fact that the number of physical education and librarian positions also were cut in half at elementary schools.

Crawford said the district can't afford to restore all the teachers at once, but "we need to start rebuilding" after years of cutting.

Chris Altobello, president of the local teachers' union, called out Crawford during the public comment portion of the meeting, stating that the move is suspicious since "we are knee-deep in an election year."

Crawford, who is seeking his fifth four-year term, responded to Altobello in a calm voice. Crawford said the move was not political. Once he learned of the better financial picture, he wanted to act quickly so the schools had time to hire the teachers.

The vote came after Theresa Boston-Ellis, the executive director of business services, explained that, though the district does have 4 percent more funding than it did in 2013-14, there are also about the same number of extra expenses.

Those needs include technology upgrades, meeting class-size, health insurance increases, retirement fund increases and the need to buy new buses for the first time in years.

Tomyn also told the School Board on Tuesday night that the proposed 2014-15 budget also does not include raises for nearly 6,000 district employees.

The board adopted the maximum 2014-15 millage rate at 7.298, just under the 2013-14 rate of 7.339. That means in 2014-15, taxpayers will pay $729.80 per $100,000 of taxable property value -- $4.10 less than in 2013-14.

After setting the millage, the board can only lower the rate at the final budget hearing in September. But such a move is doubtful since the state could withhold funding if the district strayed from the rate.

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Contact Joe Callahan at 867-4113 or joe.callahan@starbanner.com. Follow him on Twitter @JoeOcalaNews.

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