Where will MC schools cut costs?

By Jane DeGeorge
Eagle Reporter
Published: April 17, 2008

Budget cuts may force officials to slash summer school.

In addition, students in after-school programs – such as sports, band and clubs – may see less money next school year to support their hobbies.
Earlier this week, the Madison County School Board discussed a laundry list of items that may be cut back if the board of supervisors “flat line” the school system’s 2008-2009 fiscal year budget.

School officials had hoped the county would increase its share of funds to support the school’s budget to make up for more than $200,000 in state and federal money cuts. However, the county – in an attempt to balance its projected budget – has proposed to keep local funds to support the school’s 2008-2009 budget the same as the current one. The school board had requested a 13.7 percent increase in local funds toward its operating expenses. 

Most of the school board’s requested overall budget increase was for a proposed average salary increase of five percent for all employees. The salary raises – as well as proposed increases of employees’ academic and athletic stipends, master’s supplements and contributions toward employees’ health insurance costs – will likely be eliminated, according to Superintendent Brenda Tanner.

However, the cuts may go beyond these previously proposed increases, Tanner told the school board at its meeting Monday. In an effort to maintain the schools’ “core curriculum” school officials may decrease money for summer school, which is usually open to children in kindergarten through 12th grade during July.

Costs related to the summer program, which serves approximately 300 students each year, include employing teachers and the use of buses to transport students, Tanner said.

The county summer school program includes both “remedial” classes, typically open to students who failed or got a low grade in a school year class or on a state Standards of Learning test, and “enrichment” classes, for students interested in improving their already satisfactory grades. 

Officials may also reduce funds for extracurricular activities and field trips, the superintendent said. The schools’ current budget includes money to help cover school groups’ expenses, including traveling to state and national competitions and purchasing and repairing equipment, such as band instruments, Tanner said.

Some proposed new budget expenses, including a part-time math position at the high school and Madison County’s inclusion in the Blue Ridge Virtual Governor’s School, may also get the axe, according to the superintendent.

Upon notification of larger than anticipated state funding reductions in February, the school board reduced its previously proposed 2008-2009 fiscal year budget by about $360,000.

In March, the supervisors notified the school board an additional budget revision might be needed since they were considering keeping local funding to support the school’s budget level for the coming fiscal year, according to Tanner. However, the superintendent said that Board of Supervisors Chairman Eddie Dean implied this decision was not yet final.

In order to avoid revising the schools’ budget if it is unneeded, school officials plan to hold off on preparing a budget which reflects level local funding until they get “the final word about how much money they will have,” according to the superintendent.