Schools beg parents to lean on lawmakers for money

From Orlando Sentinel Article.

Parents, your local schools want you. Not to help in the classroom, chaperon field trips or run fundraisers, though all of that is definitely appreciated.

These days, districts urgently want parents to lead the lobbying charge and push state legislators to find new sources of money for public schools.

Faced with the worst budget crisis in decades, school administrators are trying to educate parents -- as well as business and community leaders -- in the hope that come spring they will be a potent force that can pressure the Florida Legislature.

Thanks to Florida's tanking economy, public schools have lost millions this school year, with state lawmakers agreeing this week to whack another nearly $500 million from kindergarten-through-12th-grade education to help close a budget shortfall higher than $2 billion.

Educators fear that without some new source of money, schools will be forced to make even more drastic spending cuts for the 2009-10 school year when the state's shortfall could tally more than $4 billion.

That could lead to districts shuttering more schools, halting athletic programs and laying off more employees.

"It's going to be bad," said Richard DiPatri, superintendent of Brevard County schools.

Across Central Florida and the state, school districts are having meetings with parents, e-mailing budget updates and providing new links on their Web sites to give residents budget information.

Orange County created a citizens "budget study committee" that has been listening to ideas on how to cut the budget. Brevard hopes to lure about 3,500 people to the King Center for the Performing Arts in Melbourne next month for a televised town-hall meeting with legislators, and education rallies are planned in Miami and Tallahassee, among other places.

"We're in a crisis with the budget," said Joie Cadle, chairman of the Orange County School Board and the Central Florida Public School Boards Coalition.

The coalition's "classrooms in crisis" committee met Monday, with members sharing how they are spreading the bad-budget message to their constituents.

Educators say new sources of money, perhaps created by raising taxes on sales or cigarettes, could help soften the budget blow. They are trying to convince parents that they can be a potent lobbying force when the Legislature reconvenes in March.

The cuts the Legislature approved this weekend -- about a 2 percent reduction for each district -- were not as bad as feared, but local officials say they must brace for much worse come spring.

"It's a sad state of affairs when you consider a cut a victory," DiPatri said. "Now the fight is on, I think, between now and March 3 [when the Legislature meets]. If we don't get a revenue producer, we will have failed."

Districts will work hard not to touch teachers, but cutting administrative and support staff eventually takes a toll.

"Who's going to do payroll? Background checks?" DiPatri said. "I think we're hurting kids now."

Budget cuts, or threats of cuts, definitely get parents' attention. More than 1,000 people attended Volusia County's town-hall meetings last week, after the district announced it was cutting junior-varsity sports, curtailing use of substitutes and delaying some construction.

Of course, many parents were upset with their Volusia officials, not ready to sign on as their advocates.

"The difficult part," said Superintendent Margaret Smith, "is that some of the anger and frustration is still misdirected to local school boards."

She and other local educators argue that school funding in Florida is largely state controlled.

That means state lawmakers need to hear from parents and community leaders that more cuts to public schools are unacceptable, they said.

To underscore that message, Orange's budget slogan is, "The bucks stop here in Orange County, but they start in Tallahassee," said district spokesman Dylan Thomas.

Florida's Republican-controlled Legislature has rebuffed efforts so far to raise taxes. Instead, lawmakers cut spending and used money in the state's rainy-day fund and other trust funds to cover this year's budget shortfall. Some Republican leaders have said they might consider a cigarette tax increase during the spring session, if the state's projected budget shortfall for the next year is as bad as predicted.

Leslie Postal can be reached at lpostal@orlandosentinel.com or 407-420-5273. Copyright © 2009, Orlando Sentinel