The Miami-Dade School Board finally approved the district’s $5.5 million, by a 5-4 vote following a six hour meeting from Wednesday evening to early Thursday morning. The approval came after weeks of hostile meetings.

The new budget has been described by the school board as a tentative budget, which could appease Miami-Dade teachers who did not have their promised $72 million raise included this time around. The board’s Chairman Agustin Barrera said after the meeting that the approval of the budget approved was just the first step. He said the final budget hearing is still pending, and there are still issues to attend to.

Those arguing for crucial items in the budget to be saved had a victory of sorts when Miami-Dade School Superintendent Rudi Crew announced that he would be willing to reconsider cuts to arts programs at magnet school, a burning issue with some parents.

Crew also appeased the gathering when he agreed to bypass the proposal cut of Secondary School Reform – a popular initiative that allows high-school students to take more electives (courses).

The School Board also voted to retain the jobs of 26 highly specialized school counselors that had earmarked to be cut.
Although teachers are disappointed that the none of the salary increases they were promised was approved, they have vowed to continue pressing for the approval in the final budget cut. “Our fight is far from over,” said Kathy Davidson a Perrine teacher after the meeting. “No way, no how!”

The discussions and negotiations leading to approval of the tentative budget at times grew very heated, with some members of the school board calling for the removal of – a move which Crew reacted to by referring to it as a political maneuver. The budget approved is $609 million less than the budget approved for the district a year ago. Board members are required to approve a final draft of the budget in early September, and then submit it to the state Department of Education for its consideration.

To work with the smaller budget, the district cut an additional 23 assistant principals and 147 elementary-school clerical workers, and reduced the district’s contingency funds by over $6 million. 

Reports are that some of the board members who voted against the budget were against reducing the contingency fund and the overall budgeting process.

This year the state removed over $82 million from the district’s budget, while costs for the operations of the school district increased by some $119 million, leaving the district with major hurdles to clear.

Crew’s popularity fell with some board members, teachers and students over recent months as he tried to cope with the budgetary gap. His budgetary saving proposals included cutting summer-school programs, more than 1,500 teaching positions and several school maintenance workers and school custodians.

Among the crowd of people present at the budget hearing were teachers, parents and students who addressed the board. It was unique to have students speaking at budget hearings, but as one female student said told the media, the reason why there is a school board is because of students, and therefore the interest of students should be given consideration rather than making cuts that make their educational process more difficult.

Before the start of the meeting a large crowd lined the streets of the school board building protesting the elimination of the reform program, while a student jazz band kept the crowd entertained.  Students expressed their pleasure in the stay of the reform project, and felt their voices and demonstration were not in vain.