Budget crunches hurt. Abilene ISD students, parents, teachers, staff members and taxpayers are beginning to find out how much. Nobody involved with school administration likes to slash programs and services and staff. But something had to give. The tax hike and the spending cuts result primarily from a drop in enrollment that apparently caught AISD off guard.
Fewer students mean fewer dollars received in state funding.
Given less money to work with, Superintendent Michael Moehler and the administration were forced to find a way out of a tight squeeze in a short time. That two board members voted against the administration's proposed budget shouldn't be seen as a failure to support the new superintendent but rather as an expression of concern over two or three specific programs affected by the cuts. Particularly worrisome to many in the Abilene community is the administration's plan to have eight campuses share four full-time school nurses backed up by four aides who are starting to be trained as assistants. Regarding the overall AISD budget, however, the view of the future is daunting. Enrollment is expected to continue to decline, bringing even less state money.