A series of community budget meetings for Tulsa Public Schools continues tonight at Hale High School.
TPS kicked off Tuesday a series of 11 community meetings for input as officials plan to trim $20 million from next year’s budget.
TPS Superintendent Dr. Deborah Gist said cutting that much from the budget will be a challenge.
"Since I’ve been superintendent, we have needed to cut $22 million from our budget because of these state cuts, and that’s been over four years. And so, this is nearly that amount in one year," Gist said.
The bulk of new state investments in K–12 education is going toward teacher raises. Gist said those are certainly needed, but TPS is about $15 million short in state formula funding because spending has not kept up with enrollment growth.
That means everything is on the table during these budget meetings.
"We’re not in a position to be able to say that there are parts of the things that we value that we’ll be able to hold completely as-is. Because of the magnitude of where we are, we’re going to have to do a little bit — or a lot — of a lot of different things," Gist said.
Gist said TPS must consider factors bigger, suburban districts don’t have to, like more schools to care for and more miles for buses to drive.
Gist said she would like to see lawmakers do more with recommended tweaks to the funding formula, like giving more weight to students from families in poverty.
"Because there’s a recognition that for school districts who serve almost all students in that category — for us, it’s 83% — that we have additional needs that we need to be able to provide to be able to support those students," Gist said.
Tuesday's meeting was at Webster High. Other meetings are scheduled through Oct. 10.
- Sept. 18: Hale High, 6960 E 21st St., 5:30 p.m.
- Sept. 19: Booker T. Washington High, 1514 E Zion St., 5:30 p.m.
- Sept. 21: St. Francis Xavier Church, 2434 E Admiral Blvd., 9:30 a.m. (meeting is in Spanish)
- Sept. 26: McLain High, 4929 N Peoria Ave., 5:30 p.m.
- Sept. 28: Disney Elementary, 11702 E 25th St., 9:30 a.m. (meeting is in Spanish)
- Sept. 28: Rogers High, 3909 E Fifth Place, 12:30 p.m.
- Sept. 28: Edison High, 2906 E 41st St., 4 p.m.
- Oct. 3: Memorial High, 5840 S Hudson Ave., 5:30 p.m.
- Oct. 8: Central High, 3101 W Edison St., 5:30 p.m.
- Oct. 10: East Central High, 12150 E 11th St., 5:30 p.m.
