Oklahoma City Public Schools Face Financial Woes

School districts across Oklahoma are facing big money problems as the state makes cuts to the budget.

Friday, September 18th 2009, 5:21 pm

By: News 9


By Dave Jordan, NEWS 9

OKLAHOMA CITY -- School districts across Oklahoma are facing big money problems as the state makes cuts to the budget.

Earlier this week, state agencies were called to an across-the-board budget cut of 5 percent. Now, school districts are facing similar cuts.

A spokeswoman for Oklahoma City Public Schools describes this as rough, but the district is determined to make it through this tough budget year with no disruption to students.

"I think the recession from both coasts have finally make their way to Oklahoma and it's definitely affecting Oklahoma City Public Schools," Kathleen Kennedy, Oklahoma City Public Schools Spokeswoman said.

More than $1 million has been cut from the district's budget and if things continue on this path, it could lose as much as $800,000 with each passing month. But Kennedy maintains student programs and services will not be cut.

"Your child will not notice a difference and that's our whole goal through this whole process is to endure what we can without any students noticing what we're doing," Kennedy said.

That's quite a tall order, according to school board member Wilfredo Santos Rivera.

"It's always noticeable when you cut especially when you're cutting the kind of money they're talking about," Rivera said.

Rivera does have a suggestion that could save the district millions of dollars.

"If it was up to me I'd cut the outsourcing," Rivera said. "There are things there we could do in house and we could save some money there."

Kennedy says the school is now reviewing its budgets.

"We're going to ask all different employee groups to take a look at their departments and how they manage their resources and see where they can cut," Kennedy said.

Board member Rivera Santos says he's on the budget committee so he expects to meet with the school's finance director to learn more about this in the coming weeks.

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