Playing catch-up in fast-paced Advanced Placement courses required one-on-one time with teachers for Alicia Wilbanks, a junior at Arlington Lamar High School.
Last year, she missed a few classes and needed extra help during conference periods to get back on track."If you're sick just one day, that puts you so far behind because AP classes just move so much faster than regular classes," said Wilbanks, 16. "For students that fall behind, those conference periods are really great to have with teachers so you can catch up with everyone else."But to make up for staff reductions, high school teachers in Arlington and other Tarrant County districts are having to give up some conference periods to teach an additional class. That's just one example of the changes students will see when school begins Monday -- changes brought on by state funding cuts.A special legislative session resulted in about $260 million in reductions in state funding for Tarrant County-area districts over the next two years. Many districts already faced multimillion-dollar budget shortfalls because of complex school funding formulas and had cuts in other state and federal funds.Besides cutting teachers, schools will have fewer assistant principals, teacher assistants, librarians, school resource officers and nurses. Class sizes will be increased.District officials said they tried to keep the budget cuts as far from classrooms as possible, with many making serious trims at the administrative level and in extracurricular activities, including athletics and fine arts.But inevitably, students will feel an impact, inside and outside the classroom."Those teachers are there. They're available. We don't want the students to feel like they're not," Arlington district spokeswoman Amy Casas said. "There is definitely going to be an adjustment here in the district because we are going to be doing more with less. Our goal is to provide the best education we can for our kids with the resources we have."Arlington's projected shortfall for 2010-11 dropped to $600,000, and officials expect an $8 million surplus for the upcoming year, largely due to a one-time change in the district's fiscal year. But officials have said cuts were needed to keep recurring costs from draining finances. Arlington expects to lose about $28.9 million in state money over the next two years from the legislative funding cuts.How budget reductions affect students varies by district, but many educators worry that this year is just the beginning of deeper cuts, because a one-time infusion of federal money temporarily saved hundreds of jobs countywide.For example, in Keller, where voters in June rejected a district effort to raise taxes, officials will spend $4.8 million in federal money to hold off cutting 113 positions, including 91 teachers, for another year. The district expects a $29 million shortfall this year."The start of a school year should be exciting for students and teachers," said Steven Poole, who represents area school employees through the United Educators Association. "But not this year when in the back of your mind you're always thinking you might lose your job. It's hard. We already know we're going to have to prepare for another round of cuts."Fewer teachers, bigger classesOfficials say the impact will be felt the most in the loss of teachers and in increased class sizes.Some districts, like Arlington and Keller, laid off staff members. Others, including Mansfield and Birdville, trimmed staffers largely by not filling open positions.The number of teaching positions being cut remains fluid because many districts will make last-minute budget adjustments after school starts and finalize budgets this month. Administrators expect about 175 fewer teachers in Arlington than last year, nearly 85 fewer in Mansfield and about 45 fewer in Keller, for example.This is the first time widespread cuts have significantly increased class sizes in elementary schools countywide, Poole said.Texas has a class size limit of 22 students to one teacher up to the fourth grade. But districts including Mansfield, Birdville and Fort Worth plan to request waivers to allow larger elementary classes."In past years, once elementary schools hit above that 22, they were hiring an additional teacher, but now more are asking for the waivers," Poole said. "That's a major change from what we've seen."This year, the Legislature expanded the reasons schools can ask for waivers to include finances. Last year, the state granted 1,061 class-size waivers."We do expect more class-size waivers due to the financial situation," Texas Education Agency spokeswoman DeEtta Culbertson said.Birdville and Mansfield set their student-teacher guidelines at 23-to-1 in elementary schools. Birdville's projected shortfall is $5.6 million this year, though officials are still working on cuts. Mansfield's is $13 million."We're doing everything we can to not have an impact on the quality of instruction," Mansfield spokesman Richie Escovedo said.Elementary schools in Fort Worth planned to staff classrooms at 24-to-1 as the district expects to have 40 fewer teachers than last year. But that number skews the true impact of reductions because the district is opening five new schools and expanding an existing program.Samuel Monge, Fort Worth's assistant superintendent of human capital management, said that because the district has so many students who are mobile and move between schools frequently, class sizes usually level off after school starts."We really staffed as tight as we could based on our projections," Monge said. "But staffing at 24-to-1 will really have us end up with schools where the classes are 21-to-1 or even 19-to-1."Some districts made changes in secondary schools.Grapevine-Colleyville slightly tweaked class sizes in middle and high schools as it moved from a four-period daily schedule to a traditional seven-period day, meaning teachers are responsible for more classes. Officials plan about 30 fewer teachers than last year.Eagle Mountain-Saginaw, which adopted a balanced budget for the upcoming year after making up for $8.5 million in state cuts, increased class sizes at all levels, including 27 students per teacher in high school, up from 25."Even though we are a growth district, one of our cost-saving measures was to increase class size to maximize our efficiencies with staffing," spokeswoman Kristin Courtney said.Class sizes can affect student achievement, but the quality of the teacher is what really makes a difference, said Russ Whitehurst, director of the Brookings Institution's Brown Center on Education Policy, which issued a report on class sizes this spring that included Texas schools as his subject.His report showed that test scores went down about 1.5 points when fifth-grade classes increased by one student."The difference is pretty small in the context of things," Whitehurst said. "It's not that it's unimportant, but the effects are likely to be small whereas the costs to maintain small classes are high. Teacher quality had a much bigger effect on students rather than the variation of class size."Other school staffOutside the classroom, cuts vary by district.The Crowley district has eliminated all but two librarians. One will oversee elementary needs, and the other, high school.Lori Carrender is among the former library aides who will now be "media specialists," picking up some traditional librarian duties while leading students into the digital age.Sitting in training last week, Carrender acknowledged that it will be a learning curve as she and others figure out the technology duties. But she hopes to continue some programs at J.A. Hargrave Elementary that a librarian would provide.Librarians teach students how to find and filter quality information for research papers and homework -- a much-needed skill for college -- and often implement reading programs that teach children about literature and help them read at their grade level."It won't be the same as having that certified person in the library for classes, but we're trying to do our best to use the personnel we have to meet the needs of our students," Carrender said.Trent Lovett, Crowley's chief of school operations, said that the ideal scenario is to have a librarian at each school but that the district just can't afford that. The district will have a nearly $2 million shortfall next year.In Keller, some elementary school nurses will now share campuses. The district cut 10 1/2 registered-nurse positions and replaced them with six licensed vocational nurses who can perform most duties, but not all, such as writing individual healthcare plans for medically fragile students or training staffers to work with diabetic students.Registered nurse Sharon Painter will spend three days a week at Bluebonnet Elementary and two at Heritage Elementary. A vocational nurse will be at one when she is at the other. Painter can return to Bluebonnet, about four miles away, if something urgent comes up.The key to making it work will be good communication, said Painter, who noted that the district upgraded the nurses' computer program so they can leave one another notes protected by passwords.Assistant principalsAssistant principals were another group affected by cuts in some districts, namely Arlington and Fort Worth, which cut about a dozen and 10, respectively.While assistant principals are often associated with disciplinary scenarios, many times during such interaction they can be the one adult on campus to pinpoint deeper needs that may trigger bad behavior, such as trouble with family or financial instability, said Cindy Kirby of the Texas Association of Secondary School Principals. Often they can help guide families to resources or just provide a listening ear to students to help get them back on track, she said.Fort Worth shifted its staffing ratios so that more elementary and middle schools will share assistant principals when the schools are below a certain enrollment, such as fewer than 500 students at a grade school. Monge said some schools will have more assistant principals despite enrollment, based on needs.The district is facing a $35.6 million shortfall next year."The work doesn't go away," Monge said. "The question is always how much can you cut back without hurting the productivity of the building, and we are always protecting our schools as much as we can."Eva-Marie Ayala, 817-390-7700Jessamy Brown, 817-390-7326A closer look
Here is a sampling of cuts caused by state budget reductions and a complex state funding formula. Officials note that after school starts, staffing can change based on unexpected enrollment patterns.
Arlington: Had significant cuts across the district, including layoffs. The district expects to have about 175 fewer teachers, 137 fewer teaching assistants, 19 fewer clerks and a dozen fewer assistant principals. Some pre-kindergarten teaching assistants were hired back by the district's community-based day-care partners. Last year, the district had 4,300 teachers, 292 teaching assistants, 269 campus clerks and 131 assistant principals.
Birdville: Increased its class size in elementary schools by one student to 23 per teacher, which will mean 17 fewer teachers in the district. It also cut 10 teaching assistant positions in special education. Last year, the district had 1,505 teachers and 267 teaching assistants.
Burleson: Had widespread cuts, with officials planning for 52 fewer teachers and seven fewer teaching assistants. The district is also cutting two assistant principals. Last year, the district had 694 teachers, 152 teaching assistants and 27 assistant principals.
Carroll: Avoided deep cuts and expects a slight dip in enrollment. Officials plan to have two fewer teachers than last year's 534, seven fewer teaching assistants than the 102 last year and one fewer school nurse.
Crowley: Had layoffs but expects about the same number of teachers as last year at 928. But a significant cut for the district was going from nine librarians to two for the district's 21 traditional campuses.
Eagle Mountain-Saginaw: Expects 15 more teachers than last year's 1,073 with the opening of a career tech high school. To help with budget needs, the district increased class sizes at all levels.
Fort Worth: Expects 40 fewer teachers, even with five more schools than last year. Elementary school class sizes are increasing. The district will have 10 fewer counselors and 10 fewer assistant principals. Last year, it had 3,493 teachers, 184 counselors and 173 assistant principals.
Grapevine-Colleyville: Expects about 30 fewer teachers than last year, made up largely by slight increases in class sizes in middle and high schools and the switch to a traditional seven-period day in the high school, which means teachers can have more classes. Last year, the district had 975 teachers.
Hurst-Euless-Bedford: Plans to lose about 25 teaching positions, 13 in elementary schools and a dozen on secondary campuses. Officials said some reductions were made at campuses with lower student-teacher ratios, but they did not expect a significant change in class sizes overall. Last year, the district had 1,325 teachers.
Keller: Laid off about 250 employees. Officials plan to staff schools with about 45 fewer teachers, 30 fewer clerks, 101/2 fewer registered nurses and no librarian assistants. The district also cut 10 resource officers from middle and high schools, who were partially paid for by the district, and plans to replace them with 14 civilian security specialists. Last year, Keller had 1,982 teachers, 104 campus clerks, 421/2 registered nurses and 71/2 librarian assistants.
Mansfield: The district avoided layoffs but through attrition. Officials plan to have about 85 fewer teachers and 6.5 fewer teaching assistants. The district increased class sizes in elementary schools and changed from a four-period block schedule to a more traditional eight-period day in intermediate and middle schools. Last year, the district had 1,978 teachers.
Sources: Area school districts
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