Cleburne ISD trustees will meet Monday night to finalize specific areas of cuts in the 2011-12 budget before Superintendent Tim Miller recommends terminations of specific employees at the April 11 meeting.

A special meeting, set for 5 p.m., will be in closed session. Board members will meet with district attorney Bobby Padget to iron out legal details of a Reduction in Force. The regularly scheduled meeting is at 6 p.m. Both meetings will be in the Don Smith Performing Arts Center at Cleburne High School.

Miller said Friday that he and Chief Financial Officer David Johnson are working under the presumption that Cleburne’s school funding from Austin will be reduced by approximately $7 million this year. It could be as much as $11 million or as little as $3.8 million, depending in part on whether the legislators vote to withdraw money from the state’s so-called rainy day fund to spread among the school districts.

“My plan [Monday night] is to go through all the program areas that have already been identified and then identify in each program the number of positions associated with that program change.

“I’ll also be presenting [optional budgets]. We’ve talked all along about a $7 million to $11 million cut. Right now, I’m leaning more toward a $7 million cut which is not as bad as we thought several weeks ago. We’ve been focusing our efforts on trying to meet that figure.”

Miller hopes legislators decide something by the end of the session, which is May 20.

“That’s because we could potentially hire people back if the cut is less than $7 million,” he said. “Or, if the cut is greater, we could implement more drastic program changes. So, I’ll be talking about better than $7 million, worse than $7 million and a possible tax ratification election as a source of revenue that could potentially bring $3.5 million to Cleburne.

“We also have a fund balance we could look at if a TRE did not pass. The board may decide to go with fund balance just to make some of the cuts less severe. There are different options on the table.”

It’s important that the board approve specifics in the budgets for cuts so the termination process can begin, Miller said.

“We need to let people know as soon as possible that they are being proposed for termination.”

No one will be pink-slipped Monday night.

“Monday night, we are identifying positions within those program areas. We need to use our RIF criteria to go through all those positions and people. April 11 is the day we would be proposing termination, proposing non-renewal and accepting resignations.”

Miller said some RIF projections have already been calculated.

“Once we have an approved goal of how much to cut, we’ll look at the list again and make sure all the right folks are on it. Then when we have that list complete, we’ll start meeting with people to let them know their options.”

Miller said it will be up to him to recommend personnel RIF’s and up to the board to approve them. The votes to terminate would be held in open session, Miller said.

“That will happen April 11. Then we’ll have to give written notice of the terminations or non-renewals. We also have to offer contracts to employees, because our deadline for doing that is April 19.”

Besides teachers, there are administrators, cafeteria workers, maintenance staff, instructional assistants and other workers on the chopping block. Every program area in the district is being touched by the RIF.

“We’ve looked at classroom and non-classroom personnel,” Miller said. “Percentage-wise, we’re making cuts that are realistic. A lot of the talk in Austin is that districts need to find more non-classroom folks to get rid of. I like a balance between classroom and non-classroom. That’s the message I’m relating to our elected officials.”

United Educators Association Executive Director Larry Shaw said last week his group wants to be regarded as an advocate not only for school employees but also for school districts.

“I would like to see UEA lobby for more local control of school districts,” Miller said. “I’d like for them to work with us as much as possible to save jobs instead of pushing to keep salaries the same. We have about a $33 million payroll. If I could decrease salaries 10 percent across the board, from administrators to substitute teachers, the savings would be $3.3 million. That’s a lot of money, but I don’t have that [legal] flexibility right now.”

Miller is likely to cover some of the same topics Wednesday at the Cleburne Chamber of Commerce quarterly luncheon.

“That will be kind of a celebration of the success of the children this year,” Miller said. “We’ll view the current state of finances, and we’ll look forward with hope. It’s going to incorporate some of these [RIF-related] things, but it will be more about recognizing our adopters.

“It won’t be all gloom and doom. There will be some gloom and doom in the middle, but we’ll start off with high points and end with high points.”