Worst case scenario places NK school jobs lost at 42

Job cuts at New Kent schools could range as high as 42, including 24 teachers, if a worst case scenario now confronting county school officials plays out. Layoffs, however, are only part of what could occur if schools are forced to cope with a projected worst case $3.1 million revenue shortfall.

Administrators have met with staff at all four New Kent schools and advised employees of the situation. Thus far, there have been no specifics released as to which teaching jobs could be on the line, but up to 12 paraprofessional (teacher aide), four clerical, and one administration post are also slated for the chopping block under worst case. Coupled with last year’s 44 jobs lost in New Kent, worst case would mean 86 positions eliminated in just a year’s time frame.

Then there’s the matter of other budget cuts. School officials are proposing a 4 percent across the board salary reduction, amounting to almost $693,000 in savings, along with slashing close to $735,000 in non-personnel categories. Not being considered are employee furloughs due to legal questions.

All of the cuts now on the table are in response to revenue projections coming from the state.

“This is clearly the worst case scenario, but these are real numbers given to us by the governor’s office as to what we should anticipate,” New Kent school superintendent Rick Richardson said last week.

Richardson said he met the week before with the county’s Board of Supervisors to deliver the bad news.

“I think [supervisors] were pretty well stunned to find out we face a $3.1 million shortfall,” he said. “I think they heard me clearly and listened carefully and were concerned about the numbers I was giving them.”

Nothing, however, is set in stone and will not be until the General Assembly acts on a budget for the next biennium. For now, two finance bills — one generated by the House of Delegates and the other originating in the Senate — are out there. In the near future, legislators must hammer out a compromise version that is to be forwarded to the governor’s office for signature.

“We don’t know what the combined resolution bill coming out of the House and Senate will look like, but probably somewhere in the middle will be how it all plays out,” Richardson said, adding that the Senate version in more education-friendly.

The House bill makes cuts to education funding permanent while the Senate version calls for temporary cuts that are to be restored after the ongoing recession ends.

County School Board members, meanwhile, anticipated money woes heading into the budget-building process. First came state budget recommendations by out-going Gov. Tim Kaine that pegged New Kent’s shortfall at close to $1.8 million.

Next, incoming Gov. Bob McDonald opposed a Kaine recommendation that would freeze the state’s composite index — better known as a locality’s ability to pay for education — thus adding close to $500,000 to New Kent’s shortfall. Finally, McDonald’s overall recommendations could cost New Kent another $820,000.

“We know the shortfall will be between $1.7 million and $3.1 million with $3.1 million the absolute worst case scenario,” Richardson said during Monday’s School Board meeting. “But $1.7 million is still a considerable sum for us to deal with.”

School Board members had scheduled a budget work session last Thursday, but cancelled, electing instead to wait for more solid information on a budget compromise from the General Assembly. They now have a work session set for Monday (March 8) at 6:30 p.m. in the high school library.

“But we probably won’t know much more than we know now,” Richardson said Monday night. “We should know within the next two weeks what our state funding will look like.”

New Kent, like other localities statewide, is required by law to have a budget adopted by April 1. The bottom line, however, is subject to amendment afterward based on revenue expectations, including the local contribution ultimately approved by the Board of Supervisors.

“March will be a busy month for us,” said Ed Smith, New Kent schools’ assistant superintendent and finance director. “But we will build a budget and have a legal document in place.”