Metro Schools Left in the Lurch as Budget Deadlines Loom

Nashville Mayor Bill Purcell began his budget hearings with each Metro department (today/yesterday), but with significant gaps left by unknown figures from the state and federal government. The Metro Council passed legislation last year to move the mayor’s proposal up by two months, giving the council more time to study and make changes before passing a budget in June.

No departments have been left in the lurch quite like Metro Schools. Governor Bredesen’s proposed cigarette tax increase would aim extra funding at urban districts like Nashville’s. But the mayor says we’re still several months out from knowing if it will pass a vote by the legislature.

“In our case, it’s a swing of 10-million dollars, which in the case of our schools, really makes a great difference between a year that we continue to move forward across the board and a year that we would have to have cuts and some of our progress would be stalled.”

Metro Schools was given a budget of 571-million dollars to work around which has pressed the school board to cut 100 custodial positions and 40 teachers.

(Today/yesterday) Schools officials presented Mayor Purcell with a 17-million dollar wish-list that would keep jobs from being cut and fund other priorities if extra money does become available. They also committed that anything beyond that would be used to increase teacher pay above the recently-negotiated 1.6-percent raise.