MPS families and community members,
We’ve made a lot of difficult decisions over the last two years to make sure children remain our first priority.
We’ve made changes to employee benefits. We’ve started the process of creating a central kitchen to serve healthy food more efficiently. We’ve rebid our transportation contracts. We’ve closed underperforming and /or under-enrolled schools. And we’re proposing to cut spending at Central Services, once again, to direct more dollars into the classroom.
All of those changes are necessary to keep the focus on our children and make sure we are financially stable so that we may serve our children in the future.
This budget continues down that path. It is focused squarely on our most critical task: improving student achievement. We’re continuing to create the standard of care that will allow student achievement to grow. We have focused on the classroom. We listened to concerns from Board members, parents and school leaders about our initial budget allotments. This proposal includes painful cuts at Central Services aimed at class size relief. It also acknowledges the higher costs of some of our specialty programs.
We continue to welcome your input. We invite you to share your thoughts with us using the form on page 16, through our budget website or through the upcoming public hearings.
These are your children and these are your schools. Thank you for entrusting them to us.
Gregory E. Thornton, Ed.D.
Superintendent of Schools
The links on this page will guide you through the proposed 2012-13 budget, including: the accomplishments made possible through the current 2011-12 budget; an overview of spending priorities; a look at revenues, cost drivers and how your money is spent; the impact on staffing — and a chance to share your thoughts.
