Commissioner's Newsletter
August 24, 2001
To: Missouri School Administrators
From: D. Kent King, Commissioner of Education
Re: Details about State Budget Withholdings
On Wednesday, August 22, Governor Holden announced his decisions concerning budget withholdings in the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education and the Department of Social Services. This memo provides more information about the governor’s budget actions.
There will be a total withholding of $3.1 million in general revenue that had been approved for spending this year (2001-2002). A month ago, we anticipated that the reductions would be as much as $12 million. This is good news for school districts. The governor has said repeatedly that education is his top priority, and he is showing that commitment by sharply reducing the amount to be withheld from this year’s budget.
There will be no reductions in programs that provide direct assistance or support to local school districts. At our annual Conference for School Administrators earlier this month, we announced that you should expect withholdings in a number of areas, including transportation aid, A+ Schools, technology grants, vocational education equipment, Parents as Teachers, gifted education and others. As a result of the governor’s directive, there will be no withholdings in any of these programs.
The $3.1 million reduction in general-revenue expenditures in our budget will be achieved, primarily, through:
- Delaying next year’s administration of the fine arts portion of the Missouri
- Assessment Program ($899,000 savings).
- Reductions in customized training services ($678,000) for business and industry.
- Reduced spending for sheltered workshops ($584,000).
- Internal reductions at DESE ($373,000).
I am disappointed by the decision to postpone the fine arts portion of the MAP, and I advocated for its inclusion in the budget. The State Board of Education and I view the fine arts exam as an important component of the overall MAP "package." I consider this to be a temporary delay in our efforts to fully implement a comprehensive assessment program. More than 42,000 fifth-graders took the fine arts exam this spring on a voluntary basis in about 275 school districts. It would have been required of all school districts in 2002.
Internally, the Department will reduce operating costs from general revenue by about 18%. This will be achieved primarily through cutbacks in spending for travel, equipment, supplies, etc. As part of the austerity plan, we also were required to eliminate four full-time positions from our central office staff. These positions were vacant, so no layoffs will be necessary. These positions would have been filled at some point, and I am sorry to lose this capacity. However, we recognize that all state agencies will be forced to tighten their belts this year, and we will do our part. Some agencies still face the prospect of far more significant cutbacks than we are experiencing.
You may notice some impact on our services due to the restrictions on travel and other expenses. We will do our best to maintain services that directly affect school districts and educational programs.
I urge you to be cautious in your budgeting and financial planning for the coming year. We may not be out of the woods. If state revenues don’t pick up or there is some other unexpected jolt to the state budget, additional cutbacks could be required during the year.