Despite a lean budget and a growing number of restrictions on revenue from the state, Superintendent Diane Kornegay said district administration and the Lake County School Board will continue to look for ways to free up funding for employee raises.
“We are as committed as ever to all employees of the district,” she said.
The district is continuing to work with the Lake County Education Association (LCEA) teachers’ union and the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) for classified workers to settle contracts for this year, and while there are currently no proposals for salary increases on the table, district leaders say they have made progress. For example, a memorandum of understanding has been agreed upon to ensure that teachers in Lake will not experience an increase in their health insurance premiums this year.
“Through the years, the board has exhibited a clear track record of cutting costs. Just last year, the board was able to provide a salary increase to instructional and non-instructional classified employees worth approximately $5 million. That was money generated through the restructuring and repurposing of district and school allocations,” said Chad Farnsworth, Assistant Superintendent of Human Resources.
That last round of cuts leaves the district with a lean budget this year. That makes it difficult to find areas to cut that will not have a significant impact on the educational experience offered to students and families.
The problem could be remedied with some changes at the state level, said Scott Ward, Assistant Superintendent of Business Services. “We have a revenue problem, not an expense problem,” he said. “Although the state has provided additional funding for education, most of the new funding has been restricted to specific programs and cannot be used to fund salary increases.”
Superintendent Kornegay said the district’s employees work exceptionally hard and she will continue to look for savings opportunities to free up funding, but not at the expense of programs, staff or services that exist to ensure that the individual needs of every student are met.
The Lake County School Board and the LCEA have tentatively scheduled a collective bargaining session for 3:30 p.m. on Sept. 25 at the LCEA Office, 1713 South Street, Leesburg. The next collective bargaining session with the SEIU has not yet been scheduled. All bargaining sessions are open to the public.
