Oklahoma City District leader Karl Springer will seek ways to trim budget
BY SUSAN SIMPSON
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Published: November 3, 2009
Oklahoma City School District Superintendent Karl Springer will meet Wednesday with principals from across the district to discuss ways to trim budgets in preparation for continuing shortfalls.
State appropriations have been slashed by $868,000 this fiscal year and next year’s revenue projections seem dire, officials said.
The district could lose $8 million to $10 million in funds for the next fiscal year, starting July 1. That’s based on returning to the district’s 2006 appropriation level. As a condition of accepting federal stimulus money, states can’t cut common education funding below that level, Springer said.
"We are going to prepare for the worst and hope for the best,” he said.
Springer said any cuts would be strategic to avoid decimating education programs.
"We’re going to do this as a team with our children as the great beneficiaries of our teamwork,” he said. "The way to do this is in a deliberate way. We’ve had too many starts and stops in the
Oklahoma City School District.”
Also Monday, the school board set election dates for two seats expiring next year. Expiring are the four-year terms of District 5 school board member
Thelma Parks and District 7 member
Wilfredo Santos Rivera.
Elections are scheduled Feb. 9. A run-off election will be April 6 if needed.
Parks is the Oklahoma City School District’s longest-serving school board member. She was first elected to fill an unexpired term in District 5 in 1988 and has run unopposed in five elections since. She said she’s been urged by constituents to run again.
Rivera has served since 2005, when he was the only person to file for District 7. He said he would seek re-election.
To qualify for office, a candidate must reside in their board district as a registered voter for at least six months. Candidates must have a high school diploma or general equivalency diploma, can’t be convicted of any a misdemeanor involving embezzlement or any felony within the last 15 years, and can’t be a current district employee.
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