Florida school districts in cutting mode while awaiting state budget

The big story: As Florida lawmakers continue to delay their budget preparation, school officials across the state can’t stop talking about money.

Mostly, they’re focused on how to cope with less funding, a result of shrinking enrollment, and rising fixed costs they say are squeezing their accounts.

With employment being their main expense, many officials are focusing on that area. Pinellas County superintendent Kevin Hendrick on Tuesday reviewed his district plan to eliminate 320 instructional positions, 120 support jobs and 20 administration slots, while also slashing every department budget by 6%.

Those reductions are similar to what the district did last year, as Pinellas student numbers have dropped from nearly 81,000 in two years ago to a projected 73,000 next fall.

Beyond that, the state has not made plans for nearly $500 million it allocated last year but did not distribute after calculating that districts did not have the student populations the state projected at the start of that year.

In some cases, the scenario has pushed districts into financial emergency. The State Board of Education created an ad hoc committee earlier this month to help guide Union and Glades counties back to stability.

The worry is that more counties could be next. That’s why they’re acting now, taking steps to do what they call right-sizing, which also includes closing and consolidating schools.

Broward County district leaders, for instance, proposed cutting more than 800 jobs for the fall in the face of losing another 10,000 students. They faced strong pushback from the community, leading officials to say they will revise their “right-sizing” plan, WTVJ reports.

Arts and athletics are on the chopping block for Leon County schools, the Tallahassee Democrat reports. The Highlands County school district would eliminate 62 positions in its effort to cut spending by $3.9 million, WGCU reports.