Unlike their counterparts in Broward County, the Miami-Dade School District has come up with a budgetary plan that does not involve the laying off of public school teachers.

The county’s Superintendent of Schools, Alberto Carvalho, presented a balanced budget of $4.3 billion to the District’s School Board that saved the jobs of not only teachers, but other workers including bus drivers, maintenance and cafeteria workers, and preserved popular arts and music programs. Significantly, the district has been able to come up with this balanced budget and save jobs without recommending that taxes be raised on county residents.

The achievement of the Miami-Dade School District is especially significant in a national environment where school districts have been selecting the laying off of teachers and ancillary employees as the preferred option in balancing their tight budgets. Broward County, last week, handed out termination notices to 568 teachers and 727 non-teaching employees. Broward’s School Superintendent, Jim Notter said although the cuts were painful, they were unavoidable, because of the budget crisis.

Although the efforts made by the Miami-Dade School District are “extremely welcomed and commendable” according to Cutler Ridge social-studies teacher, Totlyn Anderson, the district still faces a serious budget challenge.

Carvalho, who referred to his budget plan as a “conservative budget,” said a few employees from the district’s central office could still lose their jobs, and millions of dollars in cuts were still necessary.

The financial challenges faced by most Florida school districts are the result of declining property values and related taxes, increasing costs in items like salaries and school supplies, and a decline in funding from the state’s coffers.

To balance the budget, Carvalho proposed cutting $7 million to gifted programs, $8 million to the central district office and $18 million to special education programs. The superintendent also recommended that an additional $26 million could be saved if district employees participate in some maintenance programs that were normally carried out by maintenance contractors.

Anderson said she was willing to “go the extra mile” as long as her seven-year job as a Miami-Dade public school teacher could be saved. “Look,” she said, “I have no problems cleaning classrooms and even repairing furniture, if this means I can retain my teaching job.”

Curtis Millwood, a West Kendall teacher said, “Carvalho must be praised. He, unlike most other school superintendents, has shown genuine concern for the welfare of his teachers, and has found a way to preserve their jobs. This is an awesome, much appreciated achievement.”

According to reports, Karen Aronwitz, the president of the county teacher’s union, United Teachers of Dade was also pleased with Carvalho’s budget proposals that would retain teachers’ jobs. She was reported as saying the superintendent could be the best in the country.