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The superintendent of the Northeast Independent School District announced plans Thursday night to keep an arts magnet high school open for the next school year. But Dr. Richard Middleton says the school will face some financial cuts. TPR’s Terry Gildea has more.
January 22, 2010 · Middleton announced earlier this month that the Northeast School of the Arts would face drastic cuts or may close its doors completely if the district could not find a way to continue funding the popular magnet program. The superintendent told parents and members of the NESA community Thursday night that the school will remain open through next year, but its small faculty will be reduced.
“The goal here is to keep the program viable and to keep it going. At this we think that it’s very practical to lower the number of teachers that are dedicated solely to NESA from 9 and a half to 6,” said Middleton.
Most of the teachers will be reduced to part-time status, but will be able to teach regular courses at Robert E. Lee High School, where NESA is based, to make up for the courses they won’t be teaching anymore in the magnet program. Middleton says the move will allow the program to survive for 2010-11 school year, but after that it have to find ways to become financially independent of tax dollars.
“The program then would be to find steady sources of external revenue, to help scholarship students, to help pay production costs, to help pay salary costs, above and beyond what the district does right now,” said Middleton.
Middleton also says students attending to school whose families live outside the district will be required to pay tuition, but the price tag and the timeline for implementing that policy have not yet been determined.
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