They work at local eateries for fundsMonday, March 16, 2009 By BRENDAN KIRBY Staff Reporter
How tight is money these days in the Mobile County public schools?
So tight that teachers at Mary B. Austin Elementary School in Spring Hill will be working at Zaxby's on Tuesday to raise money for making copies.
It is the second copying machine fundraiser Mary B. Austin teachers have held this month.
On March 2, instructors took home 10 percent of the gross sales at Carpe Diem — about $100 — plus another $50 in tips.
From 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. on St. Patrick's Day, teachers will work as hostesses at Zaxby's on Spring Hill Avenue and will get to keep 15 percent of sales.
It is all part of an effort to come up with the $900 that the school must pay each month to lease three copiers.
Teachers have also sold healthy snacks and other items. Second-grade teacher Cathy Cink said the biggest godsend has been City Councilwoman Gina Gregory's pledge of $5,400 from her $50,000 contingency fund.
"We won't have to keep 'nickel and diming' our parents to death. That will hold us through August," Cink said. "There's only so many fundraisers you have before people stop giving."
Schools scramble
Austin Elementary is not alone. Every school in the system has had to scramble to pay for the copying machines, since the school board voted to shift responsibility for the contract from the central office to the local schools.
The move, which saved about $1.15 million from the school system's operating budget, was part of some $30 million in cuts that the school board was forced to make when Gov. Bob Riley ordered across-the-board education cuts.
The reductions, known as proration, became necessary when the sinking economy produced less tax revenue than the Legislature anticipated.
At one time, each school negotiated for its own copying machines.
Lease agreement
In 2001, the central office took over, working out a single lease agreement and paying a monthly fee for the machines.
As a budget-cutting measure, the school board shifted responsibility for the leases to each school.
Switching it all back to the local schools left principals to figure out how to pay for the copiers out of individual school budgets.
Schools in low-income neighborhoods have been able to use federal funds under the Title I program to pay for the copiers, officials said.
But other schools have taken different approaches. Some used money allocated for supplies and teacher training. Others used money from vending machines, funds delivered from the Helping Schools license tags and other accounts.
"It's having an impact," said Deborah Altman, principal at Satsuma High School. "As a non-Title I school, I don't have access to federal funds to pay for copiers."
Dinish Simpson, the system's chief financial officer, said she sympathizes with principals and has worked with them to help find ways to pay the unexpected cost.
"We did everything we could," she said. "We did not cut one job. ... We tried to take the burden off of local schools as much as we could."
At Baker High School in west Mobile, Principal Clem Richardson said funds from the Helping Schools tag program paid copier costs for the first two months. That money normally goes to technology purchases.
"The departments are trying to find what little excess they can," Richardson said. "But we haven't compromised the classroom."
Some limits
The lease agreement charges an overage fee for each copier that exceeds 2,500 copies a month. Since each school now has to cover that cost, some have placed limits on the number of copies teachers can make.
"We've received a massive number of complaints" about the limits, said Danny Goodwin, a director of the local chapter of the Alabama Education Association.
To cut down on copies, principals have urged teachers to use fewer worksheets, make greater use of computers and SMART Boards.
But teachers said that is harder to do at the elementary level and at technology-poor schools.
"All of us don't have a lot of technology," said Bonita English, a teacher at LeFlore High School. "All of us aren't in the 21st century when it comes to technology."
Original Post