AISD Notebook

During the course of Monday's regular meeting of the AISD Board of Trustees, a couple of thoughts occurred: Has the board been relegated to the "B" list of invited guests to participate in making the district's annual budget? And secondly, isn't the 1997-98 budget cycle off to a rather late start -- in direct opposition to the board's request for a much more timely process? AISD Superintendent Jim Fox said that omitting the board from the calendar for upcoming budget negotiations was inadvertent; and AISD staffers said that missing two solid days of work this month because of the ice storm has put everyone behind schedule. But board members accepted these explanations with a great deal of reservation.

As is the custom every January, Deputy Superintendent Kay Psencik presented trustees with a step-by-step outline of actions for formulating the 1997-98 budget. But as far as trustee Tom Agnor was concerned, the district's already behind schedule by at least a month, even though he's aware that potential action by the Texas Legislature on property tax reform may upset the whole apple cart for everyone. "We're way late in starting the spade work," he said.

What's more, according to the schedule Psencik submitted, trustees weren't going to enter the process until sometime in April, well after AISD staff and the districtwide budget council had done most of the dirty work. This was unacceptable to many members, especially to trustees Geoff Rips, Ted Whatley, and Loretta Edelen, who all wanted to know exactly when the district administration was planning to let the board in on the plan -- and adopt the budget assumptions that guide the entire process for everyone involved, from the get-go. After all, the school budget is prepared at the behest -- but not by the hands -- of the school board.

Admittedly, this is a fine distinction, and one that's not easily understood sometimes. In years past, even members of the board didn't quite grasp this idea (and/or they deeply mistrusted district officials), and they would personally tinker with line items in the budget document, as though they were at a swap meet. With the balance between board members and management out of whack, the budget adoption process turned into a nightmarish mess. Now, with trusted personnel in key positions, and program-based budgeting in place, the board is able to focus more on its policy-setting role. But it looks like trustees wouldn't be totally out of line if they demanded to be put on the budget planning calendar.

"I hope it was just an oversight," said Rips of the omission. And indeed, although it didn't get printed on the calendar, trustees are scheduled to receive info about budget assumptions for
1997-98 at the next regular meeting on February 10, and adopt the assumptions on February 24.

Whatley is irritated that the board isn't scheduled to formally adopt the budget until June 23, after this school year is over. Trustees should get the budget done before school ends, "so teachers will know where the hell they are" in terms of salaries and teaching loads, he said.

In anticipation of Governor George W. Bush's "State of the State" address on Tuesday, Fox told trustees that a lot of rumor and confusion lies ahead for everyone, but that AISD staff will keep the board abreast of all developments at the Capitol on property tax reduction.

As expected, Bush's speech culminated in a call to reduce school funding's reliance on local property taxes throughout the state. His plan would reduce those taxes by $3 billion per year, employing a virtual cornucopia of methods. The state would supposedly make up the difference by increasing the state sales tax and motor vehicle sales tax, and by instituting the true cherry on top of Bush's proposal, the so-called "Texas Business Tax" (see "On the Lege," p.24).

Tellingly, Bush never said whether his plan improves, destroys, or has no effect on equity in this state. For the last 20 years, Texas has grappled with school finance without examining our system of taxation, and now, with Bush's speech, the reverse is true.