Tulsa Public Schools' Superintendent, Dr. Keith Ballard wants to preserve the classroom, but the state's financial situation is making that tough to do, especially when he looks at next school year's budget.
"I not only see that we will reduce the number of teachers we have, I also intend to take a very aggressive look at the number of administrators we have," said Dr. Ballard.
He says he'll especially look at the administrative jobs at the Education Service Center, the district's headquarters.
Ballard says he's hoping that no teachers are laid off for next school year. Rather he plans to not fill positions once teachers retire.
Last year that was about 300 teaching jobs.
While Ballard can't say how many positions could go unfilled, he does know what would soften the blow and that's a dip into the state's Rainy Day Fund.
"It was built for an emergency, and how much more of an emergency can we have?" said Ballard.
Educators in Broken Arrow agree. The district has cut almost $1 million from its budget already.
A district spokesperson say that's even more of a reason they're encouraging voters to pass the district's December bond issue.
It would cover some expenses that the state normally would allocate more funding to but can't because of the current financial situation. Those expenses include textbooks and technology upgrades.
"If we're going to buy those other items that we're not accustomed to buying then our level of service would have to decrease. The only place that we could cut would be people," said Keith Isbell, a spokesperson for Broken Arrow Public Schools.
Plus, the bond would pay for capital improvements, like the construction of three new schools, that's something teacher Katy Cook would like to see. She's in a portable classroom.
"We're short on space for our science projects for any kind of projects we do, not to mention the fact that we just don't have the room for our kids," said Cook.
The $295 million bond issue would not raise taxes.
Voters will see it on the ballot December 8th.
