CC school board tables adopting budget until June 17

Charles City school board members have tabled adopting a 2014-15 budget until its June 17 regular meeting.

Superintendent of schools Janet Crawley presented a final round of proposed cuts for the upcoming year. New additional cuts include eliminating after school remediation at the elementary and middle school, partial elimination of remediation at the high school, reducing supplements for department heads, reducing extracurricular activity stipends by five percent, and reducing a full-time maintenance position to part-time.

Also included in the reductions were cuts of supplies in a majority of areas, including instructional materials for both teachers and administrative staff. In total, the new recommendations total $49,408.

In a May work session, school board members received news that county supervisors will not provide level funding for the new year. That request of $4.8 million dollars was reduced to $4.5 million in local funding. Overall, the school’s FY2014-15 budget is $9,743,525.

A first round of cuts included the elimination of a school nurse, one preschool class, tuition at both governor’s schools, and payment on bus leases. A second cut followed, targeting the elimination of teacher aides, therapeutic services, and a high school teacher to consolidation.

Jordan Bowman, a rising ninth grader, expressed extreme disappointment over the termination of governor school slots.

“I first learned about the governor schools when I entered sixth grade and I’ve worked my butt off to get an opportunity to get there,” he said. “I just feel as if all my hard work was for nothing.”

School board chairwoman Helen Payne-Jones related to the rising freshman’s concerns.

“I know how you feel, and it is sad that eliminating the spot was one of the casualties of the budget cuts,” she said. “I do know that myself, along with my colleagues, want to implement more advance classes so that we can offer our gifted students opportunities.”

No action to adopt the budget was taken due to the board not having a full contingency of members. District 2 representative Barbara Crawley and District 3 representative Martha Harris were absent due to previous engagements. Action on the budget is expected at next Tuesday’s meeting.