In his address Tuesday night, President Barack Obama mentioned training 100,000 new science and math teachers in the next 10 years. Here in Texas, proposed cuts at the state level have some local school districts looking at layoffs.
The Round Rock Independent School District has until June to come up with a plan. The district likely will not get final numbers from the Legislature until May. Early proposals mean the district is facing a shortfall nearly three times what it was expecting.
As legislators work to fashion a state budget, school district superintendents like Dr. Jesus Chavez of Round Rock wonders how much of a hit public education will take. Just a few weeks ago, Dr. Chavez thought that number might be $4-5 billion statewide. Now he's hearing it could be $10 billion.
"Double what a number of us across the state were looking at," Chavez said.
That means instead of looking at a potential district deficit of $17-27 million, Round Rock ISD could be facing a budget shortfall of $43-73 million for the upcoming school year.
Chavez says while no schools will be closed, staffing cuts will be made across the board, including teachers.
"There will be some positions cut at the school level, as well," he said.
"Obviously, I don't want teachers cut and classroom sizes enlarged, because it's hard enough now as it is," said Vicky Aguirre, the parent of two Fulkes Middle School students.
"I'm pretty sure more teachers are going to be hurt, and not just the teachers, but the students as well," said Jaime Velasquez, the parent of a Round Rock High School student.
"I figured that we're going to see some cuts here, too. I just didn't know how much it was going to be," said Erin Griffith, the parent of a Fulkes Middle School student. "It's going to be drastic, and I'm sure it's going to make a lot of parents very unhappy."
Chavez says Round Rock ISD currently has $200 million in its rainy day fund., with $35 million available immediately to help offset some of that projected deficit.
