An interview with Superintendent Jerry Baird

Following Thursday’s meeting of the Iowa Park CISD School Board, where budget reduction considerations were discussed in lieu of the recent defeat by voters of a tax ratification election (T.R.E.), Superintendent Jerry Baird met with the Iowa Park Leader to discuss the failed election and the next steps for school trustees and the administration.

Leader – It appears that, with the economy as it is now, and with the failure of the T.R.E., the school, just like other people, have to tighten up their budgets.

Baird – I guess part of it is educating the public what may happen (with the potential budget reduction considerations to offset the $450,000 deficit for 2008-09). We hope they are going to be ready for it.

Leader – One thing listed as a consideration in the 2009-10 school year is evaluating student busing and reducing routes to outside of two-mile limit.

Baird – I can remember years back when Caplinger (former Superintendent Mike Caplinger) was here, and Iowa Park cut out some busing.

Leader – He caught a lot of flak from the public.

Baird – That would be one of the last things to do. But before we start looking at (cutting) programs, we might have to do that.

Leader – What are some considerations for this school year to make up the deficit?

Baird – I worry about ... the last two or three years we’ve been awfully aggressive from the standpoint of trying to improve things with instruction programs and concurrent programs we have. We are subsidizing that program quite a bit by buying textbooks and such. We might have to pull some of that back in.

We brag about the fact parents can save a lot of money as far as books and tuition. We might have to eat some crow and say we can’t do that anymore.

Plus, we have new requirements ... the new 4x4 ... that we are going to have to look at.

If push comes to shove, that’s going to take priority over the concurrent program.

Concurrent is something that, while we like to do it, isn’t mandated like 4x4.

Leader – What about physical improvements?

Baird – We’ll do some, very small. We’ve been doing a lot of things people can’t see. Like when you pull cable for internet connectivity. It costs a lot of money. You don’t see what you are getting for your money. But we are going to have to put that on hold. That bothers me a little bit, because that world of technology is changing so fast, we hope we can stay up with it and keep the kids on that level.

Leader – You have said that, before you ever came up with the deficit figure of $450,000, the administration had already trimmed the budget from a higher figure.

Baird – I think the first one we put together was $650,000 to $750,000, if we had kept at the levels for the things we had been doing.

Leader – Where can you conserve with travel?

Baird – At the beginning of the year we just told our staff two things. One, we want to stay at home more. That’s going to save money on travel and keep substitutes out of the classroom. There are some costs there.

Two, we told the coaches and the different extracurricular folks, we aren’t going to cut into these programs, but you are going to have to be smarter on how you spend your travel.

We upped the mileage we pay, but we didn’t increase the co-amount of dollars on anyone’s budget. Basically, what we were saying to them is we are going to reimburse you for what it costs, but now you need to think and make it work for what you’ve got (in the budget).

Leader – Will those kinds of reductions make a difference?

Baird – It will save some. But if you look at it in terms of our total budget ... over 75-percent of it is dedicated to employee salaries. So if you ever want to substantially cut our budget, you are going to have to effect staffing somewhere.

Going into next year, we a re going to have to gauge where that budget is, and look at the fund balance.

Our goal is going to be for that deficit not to be $450,000. We have already started a few things since the failure of this T.R.E. to tighten up some more. So, hopefully it will be less than that.

We want the deficit to be small going into the 09-10 budget. We want to take care of our people. We know we will have a deficit. We are just going to have to manage how big that is. You weight how big is your deficit against the needs of your people. I want us to look at a cost of living increase for our folks. So managing next year’s deficit is really going to be the trick.

Leader – What if you need another T.R.E., and voters turn that one down?

Baird – If the voters were to turn down another T.R.E. next year, there is enough (fund balance) to get it three years, maybe four. Then you get to the point you’ve got that well pulled down so much, it’s really going to be a trick to get it back to the level it is now.

Leader – Are there other schools across Texas in the same situation?

Baird – It’s not unique to Iowa Park. I think across the state, only about 60-percent of T.R.E.’s passed. You are going to see those schools ... plus additional schools ... going back the next year and asking for it.

Leader – Do you see the state legislature revisiting HB-1 in the near future, and making any adjustments? (HB-1 mandated lowering tax rates starting in the 07-08 school as tax relief for property owners. Iowa Park’s school tax rate dropped from $1.45 per $100 valuation in 2006 to $1.12 per $100 valuation in 2007, and is currently at that rate).

Baird – I don’t see it happening that way. Rick Perry wants to be governor for another term. The people in the know I talk to say they are wanting to be re-elected on the fact they haven’t raised taxes. I’ve been told not to look for any help until after 2012.

Leader – One of the budget reduction considerations for this year is ‘monitoring of utility usage.’

Baird – We already have that in place, with a computerized system that controls the thermostats. It’s going to be hard. We have to squeeze what we can out of that. Even with controls in place, people are people.

We are going to have to look at everything. Awareness just as much as anything. How green do we keep the grass around the school in the summer? It’s probably going to have to brown up a bit.

Leader – Will that impact the budget deficit much?

Baird – Again, if we want to really knock off the big bucks, we are going to staffing. When you go to staffing, you start to effect some of the programs. And if you are going to effect programs, we should at least effect extra-curriculars before we effect instructions.

Leader – Will it get that bad?

Baird – I don’t want to cause a reaction amongst your readers about, well golly, the sky is really falling. Or maybe that guy is just mad because this (T.R.E.) thing failed.

No, it’s not that. This election was called with a vision. Vision not necessarily being this year, but the 09-10 year.

Leader – You have a facilities improvement planning project underway.

Baird – We are going to have to just back that up. But do we pull the pot completely off the stove? I don’t think so. The needs are always going to be here. So we can go ahead and do some of the fundamental work ... surveying and measurements ... we are going to keep that going.

Leader – Then you are wanting to present the realities to the readers of potential cuts.

Baird — Those (potential cuts) are real. The legislature has told us that the way we do business now is to engage the public ... engage the voters. We have.

We asked for direction. Well, it was given.

I think we’ve got to go back to the voters and say, now look, are you really sure you want us to go down that road?

If you defeat another T.R.E., basically what you are doing is approving these (budget reduction considerations). Because this is what’s going to happen. Not next year perhaps ... some of them ... but in the years after that.

Leader – So the state has left it up to local school boards to engage the voters, and leave it up to them to decide whether to raise taxes, or make deep cuts to the budget?

Baird – Yes, asking for direction from the voters. That is one thing we didn’t project to the voters on this one, because we knew our fund balance would take this deficit hit.
But, in retrospect, maybe we should have done that. Maybe everybody felt like, well, they can get by one year.

I guess the voters don’t realize how the state has abandoned us from the standpoint of financing our schools.

The mechanics of the legislations say, you need more? Go to the voters. And we will.

Leader – When would be the next possible tax ratification election?

Baird – It will be after the next budget is adopted, because that is what triggers a T.R.E. If the board adopts a budget in excess of the current one (in August), we have a window, probably in October. We’ll start the work on next year’s budget in February.

We’ll be monitoring the deficit that we have now, and will have a better feel in the spring. Depending on the economy, who knows what is going to happen? But I think we have to look at the glass as half full.

Leader – And if the deficit persists and another T.R.E. fails?

Baird – Then the voters will have in effect endorsed everything on this list.