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Wednesday, May 25, 2011
New Board Member Not Happy With APS Budget
By Hailey Heinz
Journal Staff Writer
Freshman school board member Kathy Korte said Tuesday she does not support the Albuquerque Public Schools budget plan and will not vote for it in its current form.
Korte said the plan does not sufficiently protect the classroom and fails to make smaller, symbolic cuts like eliminating take-home cars or banning administrative travel.
She said she would like to see a budget plan that fills school-level needs first, before spending on central services.
"I would need to see a rethinking of what our schools need and fill those needs first, and then use the leftover money for everything else," Korte said. "I think this budget is done top to bottom versus bottom to top. If you go and ask schools what they need, they would tell you they want a librarian, more teachers and counselors. That's what schools need, but that's not what we're getting at every school."
At the same meeting, Albuquerque Public Schools Superintendent Winston Brooks pledged to restore eight assistant principal positions that were cut from middle schools in the original budget plan.
The initial plan called for elimination of 18 assistant principal positions. After outcry from board members, Brooks said he would restore eight of the positions.
The budget plan cuts 4.9 percent from teachers and educational assistants, while cutting 12.8 percent from central services and administration. It keeps 65 percent of spending in direct instruction.
Board member David Peercy spoke in support of the plan.
"I think the budget folks have done a great job of trying to make sure the schools themselves have not been hit too hard," he said. "Guys, we can't nitpick this budget with a few dollars here and there. That is not going to help us any. It may make us feel better and it may make perception better, but it's not going to help us any in terms of the overall budget, period. It's not going to help us, and it's not going to help our kids any."
But Korte, who has declined the APS BlackBerry and laptop available to board members, said making small, symbolic cuts would help raise morale and rally the community.
"I do have a problem with the mentality that cutting cellphones and parking cars isn't going to make a difference," she said. "A thousand here, a thousand there, it does make a difference and it does add up. If you want to know why the public is angry, and why parents and teachers and principals out there are discouraged and morale is low, maybe that's where you do start. Even if it doesn't make a huge dent, it's a darn good symbolic gesture that shows we feel your pain."
Board member David Robbins agreed symbolic cuts are worthwhile, and board member Analee Maestas urged budget officials to protect more classroom positions. Only Korte, though, went so far as to say she would not support the budget.
The budget proposal was first presented to board members May 11, and they are scheduled to vote on it June 1. The plan eliminates 394 full-time positions through attrition, while avoiding layoffs. Of those positions, 184 are teachers, nine are EAs and the rest are outside the classroom.
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