Crosby ISD: Another 72 employees laid off

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Crosby Independent School District Superintendent Dr. Scott Davis said no one else will lose their jobs due to the budget crisis .

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Crosby Independent School District Superintendent Dr. Scott Davis said no one else will lose their jobs due to the budget crisis .

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Another 72 employees have been laid off from the Crosby Independent School District, according to a press release sent by the northeast Houston-area district Wednesday evening, bringing the total number of those who lost their jobs as a result of the district's financial crisis to 105.

Those whose jobs were eliminated on Wednesday were at-will employees, including bus drivers, custodians and paraprofessionals.

On Monday, the 6,000-student district's Board of Trustees voted unanimously to layoff 33 contracted employees, including teachers, librarians, assistant principals, directors, testing coordinators and special education specialists. One employee slated to be laid off resigned minutes before the meeting.

In a statement, Superintendent Scott Davis said no one else will lose their jobs due to the budget crisis that brought the district to the brink of financial insolvency.

"We knew these days were coming, and yet, no amount of emotional preparation could have fully prepared us for the most difficult and necessary step of informing our beloved employees that they would no longer be working for Crosby ISD," Davis said.

The most recent round of job cuts were the latest drastic action taken by the district since officials announced the scope of its financial situation in late August.

Current Chief Financial Officer Lesa Jones discovered three major issues that created "cash flow" problems for the district: over-spending on construction projects, shoddy budgeting and bloated payroll costs.

Crosby ISD's Board voted unanimously to hire an auditing company to delve into potential issues with its construction projects, and Davis said he had a stack of papers inches thick that showed potential problems. He said there were at least three construction change orders that the previous administration never showed to trustees.

Annual audits of the 2015-2016 and 2016-2017 school years also show officials over-estimated revenues by millions and spent millions more than originally budgeted. Those accounting mistakes led the district to spend a total of $15 million more than they collected in revenues during those two years.

Then there are the payroll expenses.

Jones said Crosby ISD spent about 88 percent of its general fund budget on salaries and benefits in 2017-2018, much more than the 80 percent most districts spend. Even with a hiring freeze instituted over summer, the district was on track to spend 89 percent of its general fund to compensate employees this school year.

To staunch the financial bleeding, Davis ordered every department to cut spending by 60 percent.

It still wasn't enough.

Trustees voted unanimously to declare an official financial emergency on Oct. 8, a move that allowed the district to layoff employees mid-year. In that declaration, Davis said he would need to cut $5.5 million in salaries and benefits from the district's budget.

In addition to the 105 employees who were laid off this week, another 24 employees resigned or retired after the public learned the extent of the district's financial woes. Coupled with 31 positions cut through attrition and a hiring freeze over the summer, the district now has 160 fewer positions.

On Wednesday, Davis said the district will continue forward and rebuild its budgets one day at a time.

"I can tell you with resounding conviction that the sacrifices made by so many will not be in vain. It is up to all of us to be certain that this district survives and thrives again," Davis said.

Tomorrow we will return to work and together we will keep pressing forward."