School Board presents budget to supervisors
By Ruth Marlow
The Clarke County School Board Tuesday night asked county supervisors for a $20.3 million operating budget for fiscal year 2009, which begins July 1. This is $15,516 less than the current year’s budget. The School Board had unanimously adopted the budget during a special meeting Monday night, with member Emily Rhodes (Buckmarsh District) absent.
During Tuesday’s meeting, several supervisors complimented the board for making what they noted were tough budget reductions during difficult economic times. The cuts are due largely to a significant shortfall in state funding, school officials said.
The school system is requesting $11.3 million in local tax funding next year, up $744,871 from the current year, which represents a 7 percent increase. In past years, supervisors have traditionally increased local support by $600,000 over the previous year’s budget.
“It’s an austerity budget,” said School Board Chairman Robina Rich Bouffault (White Post District). “It’s been very difficult for us to do.”
“We think we’re reaching the sacrificial level,” said Acting Superintendent John Taylor. The focus is on funding core academics, he stressed.
But the budget does include a 4.5 percent pay raise for teachers, which Bouffault said is necessary to maintain quality instruction.
A $101,042 cut in the advanced program at Clarke County High School will require parents to pay the cost of the Advanced Placement and Preliminary SAT tests as well as the International Baccalaureate exam cost and registration fee.
But Taylor said that students who cannot pay would not be denied admission to these programs. The school system would offer financial assistance on a need basis, he added. The money to do so would come from the budget’s contingency fund, said Joint Administrative Services Director Thomas Judge.
School Board member Jennifer Welliver (Berryville District) asked how financial need would be determined. The spectrum of students potentially eligible for assistance could include those currently receiving reduced-cost lunches as well as those whose parents would have difficulty affording the testing costs.
“It bothers all of us to have to make these cuts,” Welliver said.
Preparing students for whatever they choose to do, be it attending college or taking vocational courses, is part of the board’s job, Welliver said, so that the students can be productive members of society.
Boyce resident Tony Parrott told the School Board that it should track what effect the budget cuts have on the educational system.
“If you cut the funding, you basically kill the program,” Parrott said.
On Tuesday night, Parrott asked the Board of Supervisors to consider restoring $50,000 to the advanced programs. Some students who cannot afford the test costs and fees could end up being academically shortchanged if their parents do not seek aid, Parrott said.
According to figures distributed by Bouffault, for example, the IB degree program during the current year costs $73,919, which includes a registration fee of $123 for 195 students as well as $84 for each test. And during fiscal year 2007, according to Bouffault’s figures, 178 students took 256 tests costing $21,459. The figures also show that the PSAT cost $5,664 that same fiscal year.
The school budget also eliminates several administrative jobs – director of maintenance and transportation, director of administrative technology, finance director/budget analyst, athletic director, science coordinator, and math coordinator – cutting the budget by $567,908. Late last month, Vice Chairman Janet Alger (Russell District) said that licensed employees in those jobs were offered the opportunity to teach.
Supervisor J. Michael Hobert (D-Berryville) asked school officials for information on how the duties now assigned to those positions would be performed.
Calling the school budget “well put together,” Board of Supervisors Chairman John Staelin (D-Millwood/Pine Grove) said he plans to support it.
In regard to the county’s overall budget, which supervisors plan to take up again March 18, Staelin said it “appears to be in balance,” in light of increased revenue estimates of approximately $40,000 and some spending reductions.
But the county continues to await word on how much state funding it can expect for next year. Supervisors plan to set an April 8 public hearing on the nearly $40.3 million county budget when they meet next week.
Contact the reporter at rmarlow@timespapers.com