Board Approves Fiscal Year ’06 Budget
Budget focuses on the district’s main goal – improving academics

The St. Louis Board of Education approved the St. Louis Public School system’s $339 million general operating budget in a special session on Tuesday, July 12, 2005 at Carr Lane VPA School.

Superintendent Creg Williams said 65% of the budget will be used for classroom instruction, 13% will be used for building services, 10% will be used for school administration, 7% will be used for transportation, 4% will be used for general administration, and 1% for community service.

The result: More of the budget is being used for classroom instruction compared to last year; less is going toward administration. This is consistent with the district leadership’s repeatedly stated goal of shifting more resources to academics and student achievement.

“We have worked very hard to present a budget to the community that shows fiscal responsibility while, most importantly, investing in appropriate academics,” said Superintendent Creg Williams.

Williams added, “We realize that critical investments must be made to ensure that our students are much better prepared to succeed in school – and in the world that awaits them after graduation.”

The 2005-2006 budget is structured to provide needed academic investment, student support and enrichment funded through re-allocation of resources from other areas. These key academic investments will drive student achievement by:

• Investing in reading programs and curriculum improvements in elementary and secondary schools.
• Adopting updated textbooks aligned with new curriculum.
• Funding the teacher pay-parity contract to attract and retain highly qualified teachers.
• Strengthening high school AP offerings and college-prep programs.
• Enhancing professional development for all staff.
• Building student support and enrichment programs.

Although the district remains financially stressed, with an accumulated deficit of $24 million, the district’s deficit will be decreased for the second year in a row.

The approved FY 2006 operating budget includes a $6 million dollar pay parity increase to St. Louis Public School teachers.

“This increase is part of a four-year contract agreement between the Board of Education and Local 420,” said Chief Financial Officer Harry Rich. The parity plan indexes SLPS teachers’ salaries to the salaries of teachers in the Clayton, Lindbergh, Parkway, Rockwood and Webster Groves school districts.

All of these districts are relatively affluent and have strong records of academic achievement. The pay-parity plan reflects SLPS’s commitment to ensuring that city students have access to teachers who are as skilled as those found in the best county classrooms.

The plan also ensures that parity is in place and will be implemented through FY ‘08.

Other highlights of the general operating budget include:

Major Academic Investments:

• Parity Pay Package $ 6.00 Million
• Curriculum and Reading Programs $ 2.10 Million
• Textbook Alignment $ 2.10 Million
• Enhanced High School College Prep $ 1.20 Million
• Professional Development $ 0.80 Million
• Summer Programs $ 0.50 Million
• Enhanced Music Programs $ 0.45 Million
• Enhanced Sports Programs $ 0.45 Million
• Parental Involvement Program $ 0.25 Million
• Back to School $ 0.25 Million
• Alternative Education Redesign $ 0.20 Million

TOTAL Academic $ 14.3 Million

The budget includes a $21 million cut in spending to fund these major academic investments and other district initiatives.

The district has announced the elimination of over 200 positions for the FY ’06 budget.
“These expense reductions were the result of a thorough position review with Superintendent Williams and senior cabinet administrators. We found that the review yielded opportunities to restructure reallocate resources to support academic investments,” said Chief Financial Officer, Harry Rich.

Major Expense Reductions:

Reduce Administrative and Support Costs $ 6.0 Million
-- Restructure and consolidate administrative and support positions.
--Change will impact both headquarters and schools.
Classroom Balancing Initiatives $ 4.3 Million
-- There are over-populated and under-populated classrooms.
-- Focus is on the elementary area.
? Remain consistent with Missouri state standards.
Special Education Department Restructure $ 1.9 Million
-- Restructure in response to decline in student population.
-- Work closely with the state of Missouri to uphold standards.
Restructure Major Contracts $ 4.5 Million
-- Change Mercer and ADP Benefit service contracts. ($1.5 Million)
-- Sodexho Contract Restructure. ($3.0 Million)
-- Optimize delivery of services and reduce administrative costs.
-- Complete the outsourcing of custodians.
-- Implement energy savings (e.g. Cook warehouse boiler) and reduce stationary engineers.
Optimize Grant Funding $ 2.7 Million
--Focus on identifying non-budgetary funding sources.
Other Savings $ 1.8 Million
--Position Control, reduce travel/meeting Expenses.

TOTAL Expense Reductions $21.2 Million

Overall, the St. Louis Public Schools district total expense budget including all funds is $455 million of which includes a $339 million dollar general operating budget.