Budget Cuts, Student Achievement Discussed At Tuesday's Board of Education Meeting

Tuesday's Board of Education meeting was light on agenda items, but the main topic packed a heavy load.

Dwight Lindhorst, assistant superintendent of finance and facilities, presented the annual budget report, something most school districts will be dealing with soon, if they are not already.

The report stated that, due to state budget cuts and the need to balance the state budget, the Missouri K-12 public education system will experience additional budget cuts in the 2011-2012 school year. Most will come from the state’s foundation formula and transportation revenue, Lindhorst said.

"The state must constitutionally balance the budget, and they don’t have enough revenue, or the legislature has chosen not to make cuts elsewhere in order to fully fund the formula," he said.

This means the Hazelwood School District (HSD) will receive less state funding and must seek alternative methods to balance the district's budget. Lindhorst said the legislature is considering flat funding of the foundation formula, although it has yet to make a decision. Board members were delighted to hear that the district has been preparing for cuts as all state decisions are up in the air.

"They’re saying they are going to do something, but there is no guarantee that it’s going to happen," said School Board Vice President Mark Behlmann. "...We just don’t know."

Flat funding would mean that, although there are projected budget cuts, the state would appropriate the same amount of money for public schools next year as they are this year, although that has not yet been decided.

Lindhorst said flat funding would make planning much easier and prevent districts throughout the state from competing with each other for dollars. He said currently the state appropriates about $3 billion to the formula, but he added that  most budget estimates are showing a $500 million deficit in the state budget for the 2011-12 school year.

Of those state cuts, HSD is expected to see $3.2 million in cuts from state funding, Lindhorst said.

Behlmann said the state is just like any other business that has to make tough decisions.

"Bottom line is, if the state doesn’t have any money, they’re not going to fully fund anything," Behlmann said to Lindhorst. "No different than us. If we don’t have the money that we originally budget for, then we have to make cuts, you know it’s no different than anybody sitting in the crowd--if they have less money coming into their household, they have to make cuts in order to survive."

Lindhorst also said the district also anticipates seeing a decrease to the tune of $4.1 million in property tax due to it, based on district assessed valuation, which is the money the district receives from property tax revenue.

One method the district has used to ease the effect of last year's state budget cuts was attrition--reviewing every vacancy of teachers and support staff and not replacing some positions. This prevents forced retirement and is a method Lindhorst said would continue to be used should these cuts take effect.

In other news, the HSD Board of Education heard student performance monitoring reports regarding , and McCurdy, and elementary schools.

Results from each school are charted below. Overall, each of the schools were above district levels in the monitored subjects, but below state levels. There were only a couple areas where certain schools and grade levels were below district levels.

West Middle School was above district and state levels in eighth-grade algebra. Lusher elementary was above district and state levels in a few subjects.

2009-10 Scores

Hazelwood West Middle School

Sixth Grade

• Communications: 739.9, Above district level, below state level
• Math: 746.8 points, Above district level, below state level

Seventh Grade

• Communications: 730.4, Above district level, below state level
• Math: 740.9, Above district level, below state

Eighth Grade

• Communications: 748.1, Above district level, below state level
• Math: 746.1, Above district level, below state
• Science: 721.2, Above district level, below state
• Algebra I: 846, Above district level, above state

McCurdy

Third Grade

• Communications: 739.4, Above district level, below state level
• Math: 735.4, Above district level, below state

Fourth Grade

• Communications: 756.3, Above district level, below state level
• Math: 743.8, Above district level, below state

Fifth Grade

• Communications: 744.9, Above district level, below state level
• Math: 744.9, Above district level, below state
• Science: 700, below district level, below state

Lusher

Third Grade

• Communications: 770.5, Above district level, above state level
• Math: 741.3, Above district level, below state

Fourth Grade

• Communications: 770.4, Above district level, above state level
• Math: 738, Above district level, below state

Fifth Grade

• Communications: 762.7, Above district level, below but just about three points shy of being at state level
• Math: 767.8, Above district level, above state
• Science: 742.2, Above district level, below state

Lawson

Third Grade

• Communications: 762.3, Above district level, above state level
• Math: 763.3, Above district level, above state

Fourth Grade

• Communications: 745.6, At district level, below state level
• Math: 710.7, Below district level, below state

Fifth Grade

• Communications: 767.2, Above district level, above state level
• Math: 736.1, Below district level, below state
• Science: 723.3, Below district level, below state

During the presentations, Lawson Elementary's Teach of the Year Barry Rudert directed the chimes choir, which is the only of its kind in the district as well as North St. Louis County. Be sure to check out the chimes video on Hazelwood Patch. The next HSD Board of Education meeting is scheduled for March 22.