SUPERINTENDENT ALBERTO CARVALHO UNVEILS PLAN TO
REALIGN SCHOOLS BUDGET

Previous Budget Submitted to State Contained Serious Technical Deficiencies

MIAMI – Miami-Dade Schools Superintendent Alberto Carvalho today unveiled a plan to realign the budget of Miami-Dade County Public Schools by reorganizing the District, while maximizing opportunities and reducing liabilities. Carvalho’s plan comes in response to devastating economic conditions at local, state and national levels that have resulted in huge revenue losses for the District.

On September 13, three days after assuming the superintendency of the nation’s fourth largest school district, Carvalho brought together a team led by Chief Financial Officers (CFOs) with years of experience in school budgets, with the purpose of identifying funds to support negotiated raises for teachers and other employees. But after a thorough review and analysis, the team identified serious technical deficiencies in the 2008-2009 budget that the school district had presented to Tallahassee that compounded revenue losses.

Among the liabilities within the budget submitted to the state was an overestimation of approximately $43 million in “salary lapse,” a change in budgeted salaries caused by the departure of high-paid senior employees and their replacement with lower-paid employees. Additionally, an over-hiring of teachers took place in recent years because adequate controls were not in place at school sites. To help identify the cause of such mistakes, Carvalho has employed the assistance of District auditors and the Office of the Inspector General.

To rectify the dire budget situation, Carvalho has proposed using a strategic approach to identify issues of concern with the budget and to hone in on economic issues affecting funding, including declining enrollment, a reduction of state revenues, and an explosive growth in charter schools. Additionally, the plan is designed to stop the hemorrhaging of funds, impose cost controls and build capacity for anticipated future cuts. The plan offers a true depiction of expenditures and liabilities, while reconciling the budget in a truthful manner.

The plan specifically addresses central office functions by identifying procedures and processes that are overlapping or redundant, and by proposing reductions to eliminate selected positions to which those functions are assigned. The plan considers the value of the contributions made by all of the professionals involved, while putting them into perspective. The proposed reductions are expected to take a toll, however. If exercised, the cuts will reduce the central office by 27.6 percent.  

The plan does provide for the re-absorption of staff with teaching certificates. The District will need to hire approximately 1,500 teachers by August 2009, and many individuals from central office can be reassigned to those classroom positions.

To combat spending at school sites, Carvalho is proposing to freeze or reduce selected non-classroom expenditures. The goal, however, is to protect the classroom at all costs, to be creative and to reduce expenditures.

Carvalho also has created a Superintendent’s Business Advisory Council, made up of distinguished leaders of business and industry, to review proposed changes to the budget and offer their advice. Members of the council will focus on the District’s food services, transportation and facilities operations.

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