By MICHAEL RODRIGUEZ
& MONICA ZUÑIGA
San Benito News
Superintendent Antonio G. Limon
San Benito CISD Superintendent of Schools Antonio G. Limón spoke candidly Thursday in an effort to address what he called “misinformation” about the school district, such as a recent budget shortfall, the retire/rehire program and his own performance.
Recently, district officials met at a budget workshop, where it was agreed that $1,770,000 in budget cuts made the previous school year will continue in 2012-13. Such cuts, some of which affect staff travel ($175,000), athletic travel ($100,000), vehicles ($300,000), early resignations ($400,000), field trips ($75,000) and convenience days ($300,000) have been implemented to offset shortfalls projected for at least the next couple of school years.
According to previous estimations, the shortfall the district is currently faced with was initially projected to be $3 million, effectively placing the general fund at about $9.5 million. However, Limón confirmed Friday that the final estimation has the district’s general fund at approximately $12.5 million this school year and $9.5 million in 2013-14.
For more on this story, pick up a copy of the July 15 edition of the San Benito News. Or view our E-Edition by clicking here.
6 comments
Skip to comment form
I think they rehire because they have the (experiance) I wonder if they are rehired at he same (pay) they were getting when they rtired? Experiance or not they should give the new and comeing teacher’s the oppurtunities..They usually get paid less then a teacher who’s been teaching with 20 years experiance.
What about all the retire/rehire para-professional’s that just cost the district money
They are not on contract, but many are still employed collecting 2 paychecks. When budget cuts come that’s where they should start, I understand having retired teachers, but not para’s and clerical.
Retire/rehire teachers have term contracts. They must be renewed unless Principal has documentation that teacher is not doing their job. There contracts had to be renewed. Districts saves 165,000 in insurance plus whatever claims they would have on the retire/ rehires according to figures released by teacher group of which I am one.
Budget cuts are a bad thing? I don’t understand the criticism other than it is just political back-stabbing which is omnipresent in this town.
Luna Moon,
Forget the criticism…the residents/taxpayers need to explore further. You have a supt and the FORMER School Board that need to be held entirely responsible for this budget shortfall. The budget shortfall — the state has been dealing with — did NOT just drop out of the sky as the supt wants people to believe. The supt recommended raises last year, and recommended retire/rehires contracts before the election, knowing that budget shortfalls were expected.
I am writing not as a supporter of the current school board but as a realist who sees beyond the smokescreen that supt is attempting to project.
A master strategist. The Superintendent all of a sudden wants to talk about money issues. He has had “carte blanche” with the taxpayer’s money for the past 7 years with nothing to show for it. He has two and maybe three schools in the unacceptable rating and nobody is worried. Why? He has a school board that shows signs of Pollyanna giggles who are looking for a chair to sit. They take no action because they don’t know what to do. The best chance of making them look good is to keep the Superintendent right where is at. I noticed the Superintendent keeps on repeating he is keeping jobs for everybody. To me it’s funny because that’s not his job. His job is to education kids .The irony is that he keeps teachers that teach kids Spanish. A language unnecessary in America!!! How do the white kids do it without Spanish? He is keeping our kids stupid at the expense of keeping jobs for adults!!! There is not a single professional job (electrician, plumbers, nurse, doctor, etc… etc.) where test professional exam is in Spanish!! Except Spanish. Anyway. My mind today is going frenzy just by reading the Superintendent reason for past and upcoming failures. And the public is buying it. Again. A Master strategist. Oh beside a master communicator!! And the budget issue is not a problem. It’s a necessary evil to place things in prospective.latter