NK schools facing $1.9 million deficit

Slashing teaching positions and other jobs has not become part of the 2010-11 budget picture for New Kent County’s School Board. But that doesn’t mean all school employees are safe.

Board members and school administrators went behind closed doors last week to discuss employee matters in relation to next year’s budget. No announcements were forthcoming afterward.

“As far as positions are concerned, there was nothing yea or nay,” assistant superintendent and finance director Ed Smith said on Friday.

School officials, however, are preparing for a worst-case scenario and reportedly have a list of potential job cuts in hand. Citing personnel issues, though, no one is commenting on which jobs could become candidates for the chopping block.

Smith said school officials have adopted a wait and see approach on the budget since the full impact of state budget cuts may be weeks away. So far, New Kent faces a $1.9 million shortfall, which includes $1.3 million less in state dollars.

But that figure is based on proposals advanced by former Gov. Tim Kaine. With a new governor, Bob McDonnell, in office, more changes are expected. Plus, what the General Assembly will do with education funding is another unknown factor in the budget equation.

For now, New Kent school officials are telling employees not to expect pay raises or step increases next year. Actually, employees could be facing pay cuts.

A proposed 1 percent salary reduction for all employees landed on the table as a partial solution to the budget shortfall during the board’s Jan. 25 work session. If imposed, savings would amount to $162,000, Smith said.

Also under consideration by the board to address the shortfall (with estimated savings in parenthesis) are:

–Eliminating after school activity buses ($30,000).

–Reducing stipends paid to coaches for VHSL sports and activities ($110,000).

–A 25 percent reduction in schools’ substitute teacher budget ($40,000).

–Imposing a one-day furlough for all employees ($80,000). Teachers under a 200-day contract would be furloughed on one of 180 non-teaching days.

–Implementing a retirement incentive program.

–Passing on the entire cost of health insurance premiums to employees.

School officials say they have no plans to go to a 4-day workweek or extend the school day.

Smith, meanwhile, has already trimmed $291,000 in what are termed “miscellaneous, non-personnel reductions.”

“No department went untouched,” he told board members during the work session.

School officials have yet to receive word if less federal money is on the way. And locally, the county’s contribution to schools may not be known for several weeks.

A recent meeting of the county’s Finance Committee, however, revealed a better than expected picture in local tax dollars, District 1 board member Van McPherson said during the work session, adding, “The news may not be as devastating from the county’s standpoint as it is from the state’s standpoint.”

(In a report last week to New Kent’s Board of Supervisors, county revenue commissioner Laura Ecimovic said preliminary figures from the county’s recent property reassessment show an overall increase of 7.4 percent in land values. See story in this issue.)

“We’re hoping for at least level funding [from the county],” Smith said after the School Board work session.

Administrative staff, meanwhile, is recommending creation of five new teaching positions (grades 1, 3, and 5 at New Kent Elementary and two eighth grade at the middle school) to combat rising student/teacher ratios and hiring an instructional data specialist to assist teachers with decoding SOL results.

Also, staff is recommending a $40 per student per sport (or VHSL activity) fee to offset transportation costs to away games. The move could raise close to $35,000. Students unable to pay could have the fee picked up by the high school’s athletics department.

“Kids in New Kent participate in sports for nothing and that’s not typical,” Superintendent Rick Richardson told the board. “Forty dollars is in line with the average other school systems charge.”

Smith said on Friday that the student activity fee coupled with the $291,000 in miscellaneous cuts along with $142,000 in employee salaries already budgeted but not being paid this year takes about a $400,000 bite out of the $1.9 million shortfall.

The School Board plans to further discuss the budget crisis during a Feb. 25, 6:30 p.m. work session in the high school library.