The state budget plan unveiled in Austin is everything it promised to be and that's not a good thing for public schools now having to look at how to make their own cuts outside of slashing jobs.
Dr. Daniel Trevino just took over the helm at Mercedes ISD and is not about to let things crumble under his leadership.
Dr. Trevino says, "We should be prepared and still will not let this jeopardize the effectiveness of our instruction."
He's referring to the state's budget proposal for the 2011-2012 fiscal year and its possibility of underfunding public education by almost 10 billion dollars.
State lawmakers have already voiced their concerns to Action 4 News.
State Representative Rene Oliveira said last week, “tens of thousands of teachers could lose their jobs.”
With that thought in the backs of the minds of school leaders all across the valley, Mercedes ISD is taking the initiative in making strategic cuts now to ensure jobs are safe when the time comes.
"The district is working on managing dollars, such as, cutting petty travel for employees, combining transportation for our students by utilizing our bus transportation a little more effectively," says Dr. Trevino.
To continue keeping students in classrooms where the student/teacher ratio is 22 to 1, Dr. Trevino is also looking at how efficiently the district uses energy while turning to other sources to make up for any losses.
"We will have to be more frugal with what we have. We have to look at external dollars such as grants and foundations which will allow us to continue the day to day operations in our schools," says Trevino.
Dr. Trevino wants to make it very clear that Mercedes ISD is not in a budget crunch at this time and no job is on the line.
He says calculations of budget cutbacks have been released by Region One and he still doesn't see the district ending up in the red if the state continues with their leaner budget.
Click here to read the recommendations for the state budget.
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