APRE MOI, LE DELUGE: BRETT SPRINGS TO 'BAMA

By Juan Montoya
This past Friday the school board members of the Huntsville Public Schools (Ala.) interviewed Brownsville Independent School District Superintendent Brett Springston for its top administrative position there.
After taking a ballot, three of seven finalists made the second round, Springston among them.
Springston and the two others will return for additional interviews and community forums on May 23, 24 and 25, with the schedule to be announced later this month.
Springston has been superintendent of the Brownsville system since 2009. Before that, he served as the system's assistant superintendent of operations. He also served as principal of Judson High School, the largest high school in Texas. Springston cannot look upon this move as a career high. He is taking a cut in pay to go to Alabama and take over a smaller district.
Springston has been superintendent at the BISD since 2009 and oversees a system of 49,880 students in 56 schools, with 7,400 employees that report directly to him. He earns $198,500 a year.
Huntsville has 46 schools and a student body of just over 23,000 students. The board will probably negotiate a salary with the final choice.
According to a story in the Huntsville Times about the superintendent search, the school system is fighting its way out of deficit spending that put the system $19.5 million in debt in October at the end of the last fiscal year.
Given the fact that the BISD over the span that Springston has been in office has depleted the district's reserve fund from $178 million to the current estimate of $80 million, the Huntsville board might want to think closely about their choice.
On the other hand, said a BISD administrator, it is better they don't know or they might just choose someone else and leave us stuck with Brett.
"Can you imagine what wuld happen if they found out that while Springston was interviewing for the job in Huntsville more than 100 of the district's check for game officials were bouncing like basketballs?" he asked.
The fiscal condition of the BISD has been a bone of contention between Springston's supporters and detractors.
During the last go-round of trustee elections, Springston ad his CFO Tony Fuller went public and argued that those saying that the district had been running deficit budgets were wrong. However, they conceded that the district had to go to its reserve fund to "balance" its expenditures and its income to the tune of $100 million over the last three years.
Now, with the bounced check incident being written off as merely an oversight by its finance department, the cracks are beginning to show.
Nor can they dispute that the planned Fall opening of the $16 million Daniel Breeden Elementary will have to be postponed until more funds are available. Apparently, there are not enough funds to purchase the furniture, or pay for utilities and maintenance.
Already, many departments are feeling the pinch as they try to make do with reduced budgets as the state tries to deal with the shortfall.
The state is facing a shortfall as high as $28 billion in 2012-2013 budget years and with public education as its biggest budget item, schools will likely bear heavy cuts. Barring a special session of the Texas Legislature, lawmakers' decisions will carry Texas school districts into the 2012-2013 school year.
Currently districts are required to maintain 60 days of operating expenses, but with the deep cuts that are possible, districts may need to dip into those funds to make up the difference.
Brownsville, thanks in part to the fiscal conservatism of previous boards, has maintained a 75-day operating reserves.
Like other school districts, BISD has already started talking about using their its balance in excess of 60 days to help weather cuts. Additionally, many have taken other steps, including cuts in non-salary expenses and offering incentives to professional staff who notify the district early of their intent to retire.
On April 5, Springston and Fuller went before the board in a little-noticed effort to do just that.
Placed under the consent item portion of the agenda, they tied to convince the trustees to waive the 75-day operating period local policy.
"25. Recommend to approve waiving CE Local Fund Balance due to the established minimum dollar amount of undesignated/unreserved fund balance of approximately 75 days of the average daily expenditures of general fund expenditures is not met," the item read.
A majority of the board, led by Luci Longoria, obviously did not "consent" to the move and voted the request down.
The Texas Tribune reported that 591 school districts have more than a 60-day reserve in their bank accounts, 419 have less and about 20 have exactly what the state recommends. Brownsville is among those with more than the 60-day state recommended reserves, but less than the 75-day local policy.
"We've been operating contrary to that policy since June of 2010," Longoria said. "We can't start backsliding now."