11/18/2010 4:30:00 AMCleveland schools to discuss troubled finances at community forums
November 18, 2010, 7:07 AM
By Thomas Ott, The Plain Dealer
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Cleveland school officials will go out into the community to talk about the district's worsening financial outlook.
A series of four meetings, which start Monday, will point to a deficit of nearly $60 million projected for next school year. Chief Executive Officer Eugene Sanders says the district, which under state law must balance its budget, will continue to face shortfalls in following years.
The district's website bills the meetings as updates on a new academic "transformation plan." But on Tuesday Sanders told the school board said he will also lay out grim financial conditions that threaten the fledgling reforms.
"The academic transformation plan lies in the balance," he said during the meeting at John Hay Campus.
The district averted a $54 million deficit this year, thanks to employee concessions. But more trouble waits just around the corner as a two-year, $58 million allocation of federal stimulus money runs out.
Sanders may be bracing voters for an operating levy. He wouldn't comment on that possibility after the board meeting, saying only that officials would explain the "importance and gravity of the situation."
Cleveland depends on the state for two-thirds of its revenue, but Ohio's problems make that source shaky. Though taxpayers are in rebellion everywhere, Cleveland has to look at passing its first operating levy since 1996, board member Robert Heard said in an interview.
The forums also come as the district and its unions decide when to begin contract reopeners, predicted by Sanders to be "tough conversations."
The reopeners will be triggered automatically by the deficit and the availability of $17.6 million in federal Education Jobs Bill money that can be used to help close the hole in the budget. Sanders did not talk strategy during the board meeting, but said he needs a long-term solution and a "tremendous amount of collaborative effort."
Cleveland Teachers Union President David Quolke said he will ask Sanders to begin negotiations as soon as possible. He said wants to avoid a repeat of what happened earlier this year, when a new three-year contract was settled after the district laid off 546 teachers.
Savings from concessions allowed the district to recall 335 of the laid-off teachers. Another 69 passed on the chance to come back.
Quolke predicted that the two sides will reach an agreement but agrees with Sanders' assessment of the upcoming talks.
"I expect every negotiations, when finances are limited, to be tough," he said.