They have emptied their savings accounts and even borrowed money to keep their schools open after back-to-back years of proration, and they face a 2010-11 school year that promises more of the same unless something drastic happens.
Think school systems are just crying wolf? Think again. Alabama schools spent $222 million more than they took in to operate in the last fiscal year.
Only 13 out of 132 school systems in the state received more revenue than they spent. And more than a third of the systems in the state do not have cash on hand to meet expenses for a single month.
They have been hit with budget cuts after hiring, salaries and benefits were already obligated on top of a significant downfall of tax collections that go to support schools.
And now the state school board is asking the Legislature for $3.8 billion for the public school budget, an increase from $3.5 billion in the last fiscal year, to help slow the financial hemorrhaging.
Officials are anticipating a fight in Montgomery, vying for the same dollars two and four-year colleges want, but the need is more than evident.
Increasing class sizes and cutting needed programs are the alternatives Alabama schools can ill afford to choose.
This state must have a more stable source for funding its schools. Property taxes, that don’t fall with an economic downturn, is a good place to start.
Alabama can brag all it wants about having the lowest taxes in the nation, but what that means is a shortchanging of its most precious resource — its children.
When the Legislature convenes in January, put more on the table than a tug-of-war over the same pot of dollars. Take more than a cursory look at the state’s tax system and fix it so schools can open their doors each year without fear of having to close them.
That’s what Alabama’s children are owed. It’s time to pay up.
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