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| Staff gathered into 10 breakout groups. |
Staff is a key district stakeholder. This meeting provided them with a second opportunity to share feedback that will be weighed with that of other stakeholder groups including parents, the business community, District Advisory Council members, and Trustees. The first Budget Conversation, which was held in November at Travis High School, turned out a crowd of approximately 600. I saw many familiar faces at the Delco Center.
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| Staff reviewed 36 options. |
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| Some options generated little discussion. |
District staff, as did community members two days prior at Lanier High School, overwhelmingly supported a handful of options. The most popular reductions included: cutting facilities operational costs in July by shortening the employee work week to four 10-hour days; implementing an aggressive energy savings program; obtaining fixed pricing for fuel to avoid annual projected increases; eliminating all centrally-funded food purchases for events; offering employees health benefits that match the Teacher Retirement System's, with an option to "buy up” to a plan of choice; and providing only mandatory summer school programs.
The most popular revenue generators included: implementing a tuition charge for Full-Day Pre-Kindergarten, opening program access to all four-year-olds on a space-available basis; and charging a sliding transportation fee for Magnet school students. The Pre-K tuition charge would not affect students who currently qualify for the services through the State Pre-K guidelines.
Participants in breakout groups voted on each option. Majority ruled. Some of the options received a quick “up” or “down” vote, but others led to passionate and thoughtful discussion about the impact of budget reductions at the campus level.
I’ll continue to keep you updated on additional opportunities for Austin community members and employees to provide input on the budget. In the meantime, keep checking this blog for updates on the process.
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| AISD parents at Community Budget Dialogue at Lanier High School in late November. |
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