CFISD budget hearing, vote set for Thursday

For those Cy-Fair residents who are paying close attention to 2010-11 budget discussions and the proposed $10 million in budget cuts that are needed to get to a balanced budget, the buck stops Thursday night.
The Cypress-Fairbanks Independent School District will hold a budget public hearing at the regular board meeting, which is Thursday, April 8 at 6 p.m. in the board room of the Cy-Fair ISD Instructional Support Center, 10300 Jones Road.
I advise arriving early to sign up for the public hearing. Cy-Fair ISD officials say everyone who signs up will have time to speak, but it may be a full house so seats could be hard to come by!
The board is expected to vote on the budget that night, so it could be interesting discussion.
The proposed budget includes a pay increase for all employees 5.5 percent for teachers and 5 percent for all other employees. There is no proposed maintenance and operations tax rate increase nor is the elimination of the residential homestead exemption on the table (at least not that I have heard of!).
The original list of proposed budget cuts, which equated to about $10 million, included:
The shift of all schools in the district to the special education In-Class Support" model, which means that students with disabilities will be supported by special education support personnel in general education classrooms. Currently, some schools use the Co-Teach" method or a combination of the two methods.
The implementation of a revised teaching schedule at the secondary level, which will have teachers instructing students in six out of seven class periods with one conference period; as opposed to the current teaching schedule of five out of seven periods.
An increase in the square footage that each district custodian will be responsible for maintaining from 26,000 to 30,000 square feet.
A reduction in the number of custodial and parts specialist employees through attrition (employee resignations and retirements).
A move from a three-tier to a four-tier bus schedule, which means that there would changes to schools' start and end times to accommodate a high school bus run, a middle school bus run, and two elementary bus runs. A decision was not made as to the start times for each level. This cut was recently taken off the table by CFISD Superintendent David Anthony for reasons specified here, but I am not sure if a substitute cut was put in its place--this would have equated to $1 million in cost savings.
The elimination of the district's Drug Abuse Resistance and Education (DARE) program, which is taught in fifth grade.
The food service department will reimburse the general fund for electricity and maintenance costs, because that department is funded through a separate source.