Saitta: State Not Focusing on Education

A member of the school board says he believes the nation's economy will not return to previous hits and that officials need to prepare for less funding.

Alex Saitta made his comments before the board voted to adopt the district's FY2013-2014 budget.

He said he wanted to talk about “what's going on with our school district and with all school districts in the state.”

“On the revenue side, these massive systems were built on the assumption that revenue was going to grow like this in the future,” Saitta said.

Due to massive debt in both the public and private sectors, the economy has become “permanently downshifted,” Saitta said.

“Instead of getting three percent growth every year, we're getting 1.5 – 2 percent growth,” he said. “This is something that we're not shaking. Many economists call it the new normal.”

As a result, less government revenue is going to school systems, Saitta said.

“There are a couple of mega-trends that are working against schools as well,” he said. “One of them is the lion's share of new government money is no longer going to public education. As the Baby Boomers age, it's going to medical now.

“We're more worried about our parents than our kids in school,” Saitta said. “You're seeing at the federal level big initiatives for medical. So we're not getting a big share of the money that's coming forward.”

The social safety net is “growing and growing at the federal level,” he said.

“The number of people on food stamps is growing incredibly, Medicaid, Medicare,” Saitta said. “It's sucking up all the money.”

The state is emphasizing other areas as well, Saitta said.

“What's happening at the state level, you saw the preference moving away from education,” he said. “This year it was about roads.”

With slow economic growth, expenditures are outpacing revenue, Saitta said.

He said the district has added about 700,000 square feet in facilities.

“Our electric bill is up $1.2 million,” Saitta said. “Total expenses to run these schools is up $2.3 million. When that stuff's rising 10 percent a year, and your revenue's up two percent a year, you got to get that money somewhere else in the budget and ultimately it's going to squeeze the education of our children.”

Retiring and medical costs for district employees are growing 7-8 percent annually, he said.

He said the school system, like most government entities, is good at spending money.

“It's not good at downsizing when it needs to downsize,” Saitta said. “If you look closely at our budget packet, there's a long list of things that are not included in the budget this year, which are probably needed but there's just no money for. That list is just going to get longer and longer as time goes on.”

He praised the administrations of former Superintendent Dr. Henry Hunt and current Superintendent Dr. Kelly Pew “for cutting future costs that really would have broken the budget.”

The district's financial situation is one of the reasons Saitta said he couldn't support two middle schools in Easley.

“We just don't have the money for them,” Saitta said. “I was supportive of the original plan for one middle school.”

He says going back to the two middle school plan will add operating costs of $700,000 annually to the district's budget.

He said if steps aren't taken to reform the budget further to reduce, “there's going to be less and less money for the classroom.”

“You're not going to be able to educate these kids next year and the year after like we have been in the past,” Saitta said.