Board trying to cut upcoming budget
Madison County educators are beginning to consider their options for dealing with state funding that continues to fall short of what is needed.
Dipping into cash reserves, cutting jobs, cutting paychecks or closing a school were among the possible scenarios floated before the Madison County School Board Monday in its first look at the upcoming budget process.
The idea of a tax increase was not among the alternatives suggested on how to cope with state funding that currently lags a cumulated $6.6 million below expectations for the past two years. The Legislature is still considering the funding amount for school districts for the 2011-2012 year.
"I'm not going to raise taxes on my way out the door," said Superintendent Mike Kent, who is not running for a fourth term in this year's election.
Possible options presented to the five-member school board by finance director Debbie Jones include:
•Take $2.7 million from the district's fund balance.
•Cut all teachers' and administrators' local pay supplement, an average of $2,000, which would be a savings of $1 million, and then supplement that with $1.7 million from fund balance.
*Cut 40 teachers' positions or cut 20 positions and take $1.7 million from reserves.
•Close East Flora Middle and take $1.7 million from reserves.
Which option would you pick? Vote in the poll to the left of the page.
Has anyone added up the cost of funding athletics? This past year schools went without textbooks, but the schools got their fields resurfaced. Schools need to get their priorities in order. Education... not athletics.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you 100%. Cutting some of the athletic programs would save some money. Closing the school is not the answer. It will cost about the same with bus maintenance due to more time on the roads not to mention more pay to bus drivers and teachers for commuting to the other schools. A lot of the students live directly across from the school and don’t have transportation to pick up the kids from Madison if an emergency were ever to happen. You can’t expect a community to grow if you are taking away the most important thing which is education.
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