The elimination of nearly 80 positions has been one measure Bartow County Schools officials have taken to reduce the district’s expenses amid cuts to state funding. But the job cuts alone are not enough to absorb the shortfall, and officials may look at other cost-saving measures before next year’s budget is approved later this month.
Bartow County School Board members and Superintendent John Harper met in a called meeting Thursday night to discuss highlights of the 2008-2009 school year and the fiscal year 2010 budget, which covers the 2009-2010 school year.
Board members are slated to consider adopting the budget at a June 22 called meeting. The tentative budget they examined at Thursday’s meeting totals $119,234,773 — down from the $122,909,471 FY2009 budget.
Fueling the proposed 2010 budget is an estimated $115,966,276 in revenues, leaving more than a $3.2 million difference between revenues and expenses. Plans call for the difference to be covered by the district’s reserve fund, which currently has a balance of $17,038,301.
Harper said using the district’s reserves outweighed other alternatives, such as cutting more positions or raising the district’s 17.90 millage rate.
“What do we do? We go up here and get some of that [reserve], [or] we lay more people off, or raise the millage rate,” Harper said. “You will not have a recommendation from me to increase that.”
Increasing the millage was an option board members also did not want to take, Harper added.
“In all my conversations with this board, that was not an option for them, and they weren’t going to get that recommendation from me, either,” he said. “Times are tough, and when you say, ‘You’re going to have to pay more taxes,’ well, that’s all we’re hearing about lately, and that’s not what we want to do to our citizens. We’ve been able to save some money and that’s what we’re going to use it for.”
The district has gotten some help from the state and federal government, as it will receive almost $4 million in economic stimulus funds. “Had we not gotten that $3.9 million or whatever it was, you guys would have been pounded for the number of people you would’ve had to let go in the system to be able to even come close to where we are,” Harper said.
On the flip side, Harper said the district has lost about $8 million through austerity cuts and the loss of equalization funds. Austerity cuts reduce the amount of money all districts receive from the state, while equalization funds go toward the less-wealthy districts.
Harper warned that more state funding cuts could be on the way.
“We’ve made substantial employment cuts in the system, and there may be some other things we can do to try to reduce that total expenditure of $119 million,” Harper said.
“We keep hearing that rumor that the state’s going to do some other things with regard to the number of instructional days, so the difference between those two numbers may shrink based on what the Legislature does this summer for us, but of course we’d like to see them do whatever they’re going to do in a hurry so we can go ahead and make the adjustments we need to make.”
Harper added that the worst could be yet to come. “We can work on this year, but 2010-11 is where the real heartache is going to come,” he said.
Board member Matt Shultz was optimistic that local tax funding could ease some of the district’s budget pain.
“I know obviously we’re in difficult times, but there are still people buying land, houses and different things,” he said. “I would be shocked if [the local tax digest] actually comes in at 0 percent [this year].
“This year may be dicey, but I really see us turning this thing around in 2011 to the point where I think our growth in digest will rebound. Maybe not 6 percent, but I think it’ll be better than we expect.”
Harper said the 2010 budget is based on no change being made to employees’ contract lengths. He said the district is waiting for the state to take the lead on the furlough issue before enacting such cuts.
Harper said the district made job cuts in elementary instruction, special education, human resources and the technology department. Staff reductions also included parent involvement coordinators, clerks, paraprofessionals and bus monitors.
“We tried to cut wherever we could find a cut to continue good instruction for our children. When the budgets get cut as much as they’ve gotten cut, you really don’t have any options,” Harper said.
Some teacher cuts came as a result of an increase in student-teacher ratios. The ratio increase could tie into one measure district officials could undertake to reduce more system expenses — relocation of pre-kindergarten classes from STARS Pre-K to elementary schools. The district has already moved some classes to the elementary schools students would attend in kindergarten.
“We have enough room in our schools to accommodate the seven classrooms that we have remaining [at STARS],” Harper said. “Will there be room at each home school? Probably not.
“The reason the Pre-K center was developed a number of years ago because there was no space in our schools — all the rooms were taken with regular instruction. Because the student-teacher ratios have been ratcheted up by two, that’s where some of those elementary positions were created. If I can provide a pre-K class in Pine Log, and those parents have those children close by them, they would prefer that as opposed to the Pre-K center.”
In addition to discussing the budget, board members approved appointment of Allatoona Elementary Principal Robb Kittle to Principal of Emerson Elementary School. Kittle succeeds Denise Welker, who will remain with the system in a teaching position.
