Like every other local government agency, the Hillsborough County School Board is going to need to cut more from their budget in the coming months. At a a workshop conducted yesterday, Board members learned that, as the Tampa Tribune reports today, they have $77 million in additional expenses to contend with this year.
Superintendent MaryEllen Elia said some of the numbers could change in the coming months, and one of those numbers that might change is the $13.9 million penciled in to guarantee the district meets the mandated class size restrictions, which are scheduled to go to a hard cap for K-12th grade this August.
However, as lawmakers in Tallahassee continue to discuss a potential Constitutional Amendment that would add "flexibility" to the class size requirements, there is also talk about somehow doing something to alleviate the fact that even if such an amendment gets on the November ballot and passes, that would be months after the new, final rules go into effect.
This article appears in Mar 24-30, 2010.