Cutting the Houston School District Budget

Ericka Mellon:

ouston ISD employees have lots of ideas for trimming the district's $1.6 billion budget, including requiring employees to share rooms when traveling, making school administrators teach one course per semester, eliminating extra pay for master's degrees and moving to a four-day work week.

The district has been soliciting cost-cutting ideas from employees in anticipation of the state Legislature making deep cuts to public education funding over the next two years. Just how deep? That's the billion-dollar question.

HISD's chief financial officer, Melinda Garrett, said the state budget shortfall is expected to be between $11 billion and $25 billion, but no one will know for sure until Texas Comptroller Susan Combs releases revenue numbers. That's expected to happen in January.

Posted by Jim Zellmer at December 16, 2010 3:02 AM
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