Wednesday, September 07, 2005

Energy costs and budget crunch are leading to desperation for some Texas schools

My school district is teetering on the edge of financial crisis due in part to massive increases in fuel costs and the lack of any new funding from the state. One of the ideas to ease energy bills currently being considered is removing some light bulbs from the classrooms. Another idea is "rolling blackouts" in various parts of the buildings at night, with janitors sticking to a strict schedule for cleaning.

Gov. Goodhair is standing by his 65% order. Also, although he had a press conference proclaiming he had found new money to help schools handle the influx of students from Louisiana no actual figures have been released.

2 comments:

Superdestroyer said...

I wonder if your school district has minority set aside contracts, a diversity coordinator, or a full time football coach that does not teach a class.

As with all governments, there are funds available but the local leaders work very hard not to make hard decisions but instead just try to past the buck.

Mike in Texas said...

Superdestroyer,

We do have 3 curriciculum developers, we have no idea what they do. We also have an athletic director that to the best of my knowledge doesn't teach, and the rumor is he couldn't pass his state exams. I don't know about the minority set aside contracts or we do not have a diversity coordinator. We have no football team, in that we are the exception not the rule.

So yes there is some fat to trim. It remains to be seen where they will trim it from.