CC school officials look to county to close revenue gap

Charles City school officials are signaling for help from county supervisors to close a revenue/expense gap that exists in their proposed $12 million school budget for next year. But rescue does not appear imminent and may not be coming at all as an already gloomy money picture grows darker.

Monday night, school officials hosted a public hearing on their 2010-11 budget proposal that totals $12,030,348. The figure is about $30,000 less than the total unveiled last month and close to $500,000 below the $12.5 million budget in place for the current school year.

But school superintendent Janet Crawley said projected revenue for next year is running just over $167,000 below the proposed budget’s bottom line, and school officials plan to ask supervisors to kick in the extra amount. That, however, may not happen.

School officials have built next year’s budget on an earlier projection from the county of level funding, equaling the $5.7 million schools received this year. Last week, county administrator Jack Miniclier announced level funding for all county departments is off the table, telling those that receive county money to expect less.

Monday night, Crawley warned that if the $167,000 gap cannot be closed and if schools are socked with further revenue cuts, the consequences could be dire. That could include eliminating stipends for high school coaches, thus suspending high school athletics next year. Schools would also consider combining K-12 bus routes, and as a last resort, shortening the workweek to four days.

“The impact of additional reductions is students lose, employees lose, schools lose, and the community loses,” Crawley said.

But substantial losses already exist. Included in the budget proposal is a 2 percent pay cut for teachers and support staff earning over $20,000 (excluding bus drivers, cafeteria workers, and aides) along with a 3 percent reduction for administrators, coordinators, and directors who earn over $60,000.

Several jobs are slated for elimination including the middle school assistant principal, one special education teacher, two teacher aides, and a maintenance assistant. Stipends for middle school athletics coaches and high school choir and forensics sponsors are also cut under the current proposal as is money for an after school alternative education program and teacher-sponsored field trips.

Only a handful of county residents attended Monday’s public hearing, prompting Steve Fuhrmann, one of two who spoke, to scold school officials for not better publicizing the event.

Vince Brackett, the other resident who spoke, labeled school officials’ request for an additional $167,000 from the county as irresponsible. He said school officials should have used figures from the last completed budget year (2008-09) as a basis for next year and expressed fear that fully funding schools’ request could raise local real estate taxes substantially.

“This is no time for an increase in expenditures and an increase in the tax rate,” he said.

Fuhrmann, meanwhile, agreed with Brackett’s assessment, saying schools should restructure their proposal using fiscal 2009 expenditures. He charged that school officials mismanaged money by under-spending just over $1 million in local, state, and federal dollars in 2009. His comments evoked an angry response from board member Royce Paige who countered that schools had not lost money.

“Not a school system in the state doesn’t lose state money by the way they allocate them,” he said.

School Board members, meanwhile, are expected to adopt their $12 million budget tonight (Thursday). The board then formally presents its budget to supervisors on March 10 at 6 p.m. inside the county government building. After the budget presentation, both boards are meeting in a joint work session.