District offices will see budgets slashed
If tumbleweeds weren’t rolling in the aisles of some district offices, they will be. Gov. Schwarzenegger is demanding a $1.5 billion cut in school district administrative costs and $45 million from county offices of education. This, he says, will protect teachers in the classroom.
The administration hasn’t said where it came up with this figure or how the cut will be imposed. Probaly it will say that central office expenses can’t exceed 4 or 5 percent of a district’s total expense. As a safeguard, Schwarzenegger is prohibiting district offices from passing off more work to the schools.
Slashing the budgets may force especially small districts to share services, like payroll, personnel and purchasing, saving some money. And that would be good.
But a lot of districts are already doing this and slimmed down years ago. And the state is demanding that districts do more data collection, while the feds are demanding more accountability under No Child Left Behind.
Protecting the classroom is a good slogan. Prove there are a lot of slackers left at the district office.
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Probably it will say that central office expenses can’t exceed 4 or 5 percent of a district’s total expense. As a safeguard, Schwarzenegger is prohibiting district offices from passing off more work to the schools.
So is the CDE going to pay someone to monitor district central office spending, and whether work is shifted to schools sites? And are districts going to have to submit paper work demonstrating their compliance?
If the state wants districts to do less non-classroom-oriented work, it would be more helpful if it took a look at the non-classroom demands it placed on districts, and eliminated some of them.
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