Concern about state funding remains
By Susan Dickson
Staff Writer
The Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools Board of Education voted 6-1 to approve their budget request last week, with a warning that the picture painted by the budget is unlikely to mirror the financial situation the schools will actually face in the coming year.
Bracing for cuts that state legislators have indicated are likely, Superintendent Neil Pedersen has also identified $3.7 million in possible reductions – including the elimination of 62 positions – that are not part of the board’s budget request to the Orange County Board of Commissioners.
“All of [the possible cuts] are difficult. None of them are really recommended or desired. They’re not things we think we can just do without,†Pedersen said. “These are huge reductions, unprecedented in recent decades, and they’re going to be felt throughout the school system by all types of students.â€
Pedersen’s budget projects $59.2 million in local revenue, and assumes that county funding will remain at the same level – about $36.6 million – as in 2010-11. The budget also assumes no change in the special-district tax rate of 18.84 cents per $100 of valuation, and projects a 1 percent increase in the assessed value of the district tax base.
However, as part of its budget request, the board asked for a 1 cent increase in the special-district tax, to enable it to address possible state cuts that have not yet been identified. Under state statute, the county cannot increase the special-district tax more than the school board’s request, so board members said they wanted to keep that option open for the county.
Board member Greg McElveen voted against the budget request, saying he could not support a special-district tax increase at this point.
“I just hear so much about people feeling burdened by real estate taxes,†he said.
Republican leadership in the legislature has proposed a 9 percent cut to public education – which would mean a $5.5 million loss for Chapel Hill-Carrboro – and Pedersen has identified reductions that could be made if those cuts are enacted. The district may also face $500,000 in increased workers compensation plan costs, as well as a $500,000 loss in Smart Start and More at Four funding.
The superintendent has proposed covering any remaining gaps with available fund balance, and the board has indicated its willingness to go along with that.
“My concern is with these numbers, unfortunately even this list [of possible reductions] may not be long enough,†board Chair Jamezetta Bedford said.
Possible cuts include reducing elementary school media assistants to half-time, eliminating one elective position at every middle school, reducing the teacher allocation at the high school level, eliminating six elementary world language positions in first and second grade, reducing athletics allocations for middle and high schools, eliminating two elementary teacher assistants per school, eliminating one of the two literacy coaches at each elementary school and others.
Board members also asked staff to look at potential cost savings that could be realized from a pay-to-play program for school athletics, that would include scholarships for students who could not afford to pay.
“Of course, this is never what we want to do,†board member Mia Burroughs said, asking staff to look at “how could it help, as we’re balancing this against losing faculty in the classroom.â€
The board’s budget request to the county also includes reductions, which total about $1.2 million, and include deleting an appropriation for evaluation and support of the literacy program, reducing one full-time and one part-time custodial services position, suspending signing bonuses for hard-to-fill teaching assignments and, due to the effectiveness of conservation measures, reducing the budget for utilities. Since the district has been under-spending budgeted salary by at least two percent in recent years, due to turnover and vacancies, the budget request also reduces funding for budgeted salaries by two percent.