Tuesday, July 25, 2000
CPS budget keeps busing and activities
Other cuts assured funding
By Andrea Tortora
The Cincinnati Enquirer
A $376.9 million budget approved by Cincinnati's Board of Education Monday maintains current funding for busing, extracurricular activities and athletics for the entire 2000-2001 school year.
But it took $4.5 million in cuts and elimination of 31 central office positions to get that budget, and Superintendent Steven Adamowski renewed his call for voters to pass an operating levy in November.
“Hopefully there is a perception here of a well-run organization that has taken some pretty tough cuts,” Dr. Adamowski said. Levy passage, he said, would allow the district to preserve existing programs and make improvements to buildings.
Earlier proposed budgets would have funded busing, extracurricular activities and athletics for only half a year, but an increase in revenues and frugal spending by schools allowed those cuts to be restored.
The budget, hammered out over months of discussions, was passed without comment Monday. The budget also includes:
• $18.1 million for charter schools. The district anticipates 3,000 students will enroll in charter schools, which receive money from the local public school.
• $776,600 to fund a redesigned Project Succeed Academy for repeatedly disruptive students.
• $621,400 to support the Lafayette Bloom Back on Track Accelerated Middle School for overage students.
• $420,000 for early literacy initiatives.
• $150,000 for teacher recruit ment and incentives.
About half of the central office cuts will be layoffs, Dr. Adamowski said. Other cuts were made in magnet programs.
About 75 percent of the budget was allocated by schools, who create their own budgets based on per-pupil allowance. Dr. Adamowski said the district will operate with a lean central office staff as only 5 percent of the budget is spent there.
The district will spend $20.7 million on transportation to bus students who live more than 1 mile from school. Students who ride Metro will pay 25 cents each way.
Issue 16, the levy that failed in March, would have generated $38.9 million a year in new money for the district. The budget passed Monday includes a $7.6 million cash reserve, down from last year's $16.1 million.
The board will discuss on Aug. 7 the amount of the proposed levy. A final vote on the levy amount is scheduled for Aug. 14.
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