Alonso said his recommendation to close Lemmel is not directly related to the November stabbing, but the school has been losing enrollment and is engineered for failure because of its high population of over-age students. The stabbing, he said, would make it difficult to attract new families if the school were to try to reinvent itself.
The proposed 15 percent reduction at the central office - cutting the number of employees from 1,186 to 1,007 - marks the second year of downsizing at North Avenue, as the building is commonly known, under Alonso's administration. Last year, 310 positions were eliminated. The CEO wants the headquarters to be as lean as possible so more money can go directly to schools. He supports giving principals flexibility over spending, within a framework, and holding them accountable for results.
"The schools have to be at the center of the universe, and central has to revolve around the schools," Alonso said.
FOR THE RECORD - An article yesterday about city schools chief Andres Alonso's proposed budget erroneously stated that custodians will no longer report to principals. The system's "education building supervisors," who support and evaluate custodians and provide technical expertise about facilities, are the employees who will report to the central office rather than to principals.
The Baltimore Sun regrets the error.
Faced with a general fund shortfall because of a 2007 state decision to limit inflation increases to school districts, Alonso proposes cutting $40 million from the central office and using $15 million from reserves and a potential surplus.
But because of a projected enrollment increase this year, amid increased costs and relatively flat state and local funding, the system will have to cut the base amount it gives to schools for each pupil - currently about $5,000 - by as much as $100.
With money for specialized purposes, most schools see an average of $9,000 per pupil, and during the next two years, the system will get a large influx in specialized funds as a result of the federal stimulus package. The amount of Title 1 money, federal dollars for high-poverty schools, is due to increase by nearly $38 million, to $93 million. Federal special education money would increase by about $12 million, to $35 million, by 2011.
Heading into the second year of decentralization, Alonso is adjusting the system's budget based on lessons learned to give principals more autonomy in some areas and less in others. For example, principals did not like being responsible for supervising custodians; that function would return to the central office. But principals would gain flexibility over some special education spending.
