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<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt"><FONT face=Calibri size=3>Dear
Friends:</FONT></P>
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size=3> </FONT></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal"><FONT
face=Calibri size=3>Greetings from the legislature.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>It appears that we are approaching the
final days of this session.</FONT></P>
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face=Calibri size=3> </FONT></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal"><FONT
face=Calibri size=3>Last Friday, the Joint Finance and Appropriations Committee
set the proposed budget for K-12 education.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>With my colleague from the
minority party, Wendy Jaquet, I prepared a proposal.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Our proposal used just under $1.329
billion of general funds, $42 million of stimulus funds (leaving about $40
million stimulus funds for future education use), $6 million of public school
“rainy day” funds, and a one-year reduction of support for textbooks.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>With those resources, we eliminated
several proposals to which State Superintendent Tom Luna refers as his
“necessary bad ideas.”<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Our proposal
restored support to school transportation, maintained the early retirement
program for teachers, restored experience increments on the salary grid,
eliminated a prescribed three day “furlough,” and restored administrator staff
allowances.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>We were saddened
that our proposal required a reduction in base pay of 3%.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>It is amazing to me to see how hard our
state superintendent fights to keep his “bad ideas.”</FONT></P>
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<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal"><FONT
face=Calibri size=3>It appears that legislation will be passed that requires the
reduction in support for school transportation, phases out the early retirement
program over two years, and eliminates the experience increment in the teacher
salary schedule.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>It should be noted
that this “grid freeze” applies to state reimbursement to districts for teacher
pay.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>On the local level, districts
don’t have to follow suit if they can find the resources to do
otherwise.</FONT></P>
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face=Calibri size=3> </FONT></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal"><FONT
face=Calibri size=3>Our proposal was defeated along a party-line vote.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>The successful motion reduced the
general fund appropriation to $1.309 million, and used $60.6 million of stimulus
funds (leaving $20 million of stimulus funds for future education use).<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>This proposal cuts administrator pay by
5%; cuts the teacher base salary by 2.63% and eliminates experience increments
for a total reduction of about 3.5%; and reduces pay for support personnel by
2.63%.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>It phases out the early
retirement program over a two year period, reduces support for school
transportation and reduces the administrator staff allowance.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>It is similar to our proposal in that
the call for three-day “furloughs” is eliminated.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>The general fund expenditure in this
budget is down 7.7% from last year.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>Disregarding the increase in the 2010 budget required for projected
student growth, the reduction in effort from the general fund is down <SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>over 9% from the 2009 fiscal year
budget.</FONT></P>
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face=Calibri size=3> </FONT></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal"><FONT
face=Calibri size=3>Overall, the education budget shows an increase of 0.4% over
the 2009 fiscal year budget.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>This
may be attributed to an infusion of federal stimulus money for IDEA (Individuals
with Disabilities Education Act), in addition to the $60.0 general stimulus
dollars used to support education in this budget.</FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal"><FONT
face=Calibri size=3></FONT> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal"><FONT
face=Calibri size=3>Shirley Ringo</FONT></P></FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>