Dozens of answers on closings posted
by Paul Socolar on Mar 06 2013 Posted in Latest news
Just 24 hours before the School Reform Commission meets to hear final comments and then vote on 27 school-closing recommendations, the District staff has posted answers to dozens of detailed questions raised by the School Reform Commission during and after February hearings - about specific closing plans, the merits and disadvantages of alternative proposals, and the costs of transitions.
According to one document providing a more detailed breakdown of school-by-school transition costs than has been previously released, the total transition costs in the operating budget are estimated at $21.3 million. This means that in the first year of the closings plan, the projected $24.5 million in savings from school closings would be mostly offset by one-time costs. An additional $4.1 million in capital budget costs is projected.
District officials have previously acknowledged that the one-time transition costs would be "significant" but argued that the recurring savings in future years justify acting to close schools now.
Comments (5)
Submitted by concerned citizen (not verified) on Wed, 03/06/2013 - 19:25.
If we're not saving any money this year with the school closings, why not wait a year to make decisions and use the extra time to gather more relevant information?
Submitted by Joe (not verified) on Sun, 03/17/2013 - 17:38.
Concerned Citizen--Stop asking such obvious questions that they can't even remotely answer adequately. The skinny, as I'm sure you already know, is that they're trying to destroy communities in the inner cities and many, many schools are bastions of community identity and life. Even their own bean counters admit no real money will be saved by closing schools by itself.
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Thu, 03/07/2013 - 01:06.
The issue of not saving money the first year is going to occur no matter when the closings happen. The real issue is that this process is being run through in regards to use of schools instead of taking a holistic approach to figuring out what the District should look like and not some garbage Imagine 2014 or whatever Hite's initiative is. Besides supposedly saving money in the long term, there is not a plan in terms of the closings/structure/anything of the sort. If there really were to be an FMP it should focus on more than just closing of schools, but also possible redrawing of catchments, thoughts on capital repairs/improvements, and investigating where/when new schools can/might/should occur.
Submitted by ms pat (not verified) on Thu, 03/07/2013 - 20:32.
Is it true that the so-called savings will be going to charter schools?
Submitted by Joe (not verified) on Sun, 03/17/2013 - 17:40.
Ms. Pat--Any way they can prop up the frauds will be done.
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