Even before it was released, the Metro Schools budget was controversial.
Some schools were looking at hundreds of thousands of dollars in cuts next year, and that was on top of the belt-tightening already taking place to make up for a multi-million dollar budget shortfall this year.
Metro Schools Director Dr. Shawn Joseph officially laid out his plan and his budget for the year ahead during his annual State of Schools address this morning at Overton High School.
While most employees get a raise, some will lose their jobs, most teachers will get a 2% cost-of-living raise, and teacher assistants would get even more.
However, some social workers and other support personnel could soon be out of job.
During his state of schools address, Dr. Shawn Joseph pointed out some of the positive things going on in the district.
Joseph said, "We have absolutely positively without question I think some of the best children in America, can we give them a round of applause."
Dr. Joseph said we're making progress, but there's more work to be done. He said the district needs to make some changes.
Sara Amos, a social worker at MNPS, told us, "We were actually notified we might lose our positions at our appreciation luncheon on Friday, and then on Monday we were officially given letters of termination just explaining that it was a budget issue, it wasn't based on any of our evaluations or scores or experience."
Under the proposed budget, 7 social workers, 16 truancy specialists, and 12 family involvement specialists could be out of a job. Their departments are being re-structured.
They will be given the chance to the apply for the new jobs but there is no guarantee they will get them.
Amos said, "I think it feels a little unfair to reapply for positions that are in our same department that we are qualified for."
Dr. Joseph did not mention the cuts during his State of Schools address, but he alluded to change.
Joseph said, "It takes courage sometimes to just try something new. And this entire board has worked together to create a vision and a mission for this school district."
Along with the restructuring, Joseph’s budget also gives all employees a 2% cost-of-living raise. Para professionals will receive even more.
Joseph said, "It's more costly to lose great teachers and to lose great staff because they can't live in our city."
Several other programs are being cut in the proposed $924 million budget. One of them is the free lunch program. For the last several years, all Metro students have received free breakfast and lunch. But that program could be eliminated at dozens of schools next year.
We were told Dr. Joseph would be available to answer questions this afternoon – but that never happened.
There will be several more opportunities for the public to weigh in on the budget before it is voted on by the school board next month.
