Tom Luxsox Coins

Note Bep

County Schools May Face$1.5 Million Cut In Budget

As much as $1.5 million may have to be cut from the Greene County School System's 2010-11 budget, director of Greene County Schools Dr. Joe Parkins said during a meeting of the Greene County Board of Education on Thursday.

To make matters worse, Parkins told the board the only way to cut that much money is with reductions in personnel.

Parkins pointed out that 85 percent of the county school system's budget is dedicated to salaries and benefits and that cuts of the magnitude that likely will be required next year can only be made by reducing personnel.

Although he is retiring next June 30, Parkins said he plans to develop a proposed 2010-11 school system budget in the spring because his successor is not currently expected to assume duties until July 1, 2010.

The county school board currently is seeking candidates for the director of schools post, but is not scheduled to choose a new director until the spring.

CAUSE OF PROBLEMS

The school system is facing increases in the cost of employee health insurance coverage, Tennessee Consolidated Retirement System payments as well as having to fund mandatory "step" salary increases for many of its teachers, Parkins told the board.

At the same time, he said, the county school system will receive less state Basic Education Plan (BEP) funding next year because enrollment this year dropped by about 100 students.

Without the drop in enrollment, he said, the county school system would have received the same amount of BEP funding next year as it did this year because of state budget cuts.

In the years before the current recession, Parkins said, state BEP funding for local school systems increased annually.

He also noted that a large portion of the BEP funding the Greene County School System received this year was actually federal economic stimulus funds that the state legislature used to balance this year's state funding.

For the 2010-11 fiscal year (which begins next July 1) only about $1.3 million in federal stimulus funds likely will be supplied to the county school system by the state Department of Education.

Key local revenues, including the county school system's share of local sales tax collections, are also lagging.

Parkins said that as of the last report he received, local sales tax revenues are lagging nearly $80,000 behind collections for the same period a year ago.

While local property tax collections are running about $62,000 ahead of the same period a year earlier, Parkins said it is too early to tell if there is an actual upward trend in property-tax collections.

"It could just be that people are paying their taxes earlier," Parkins said, noting that property taxes don't actually have to be paid until February.

Expenditures for electricity, natural gas and propane are down from last year through the first several months of the fiscal year that began last July 1, Parkins said.

Leading the way, he said, is a $41,300 decrease in diesel fuel costs from the same period a year ago.

For the 2011-12 fiscal year, he said, the state funding situation will become worse because the state will have expended all its federal stimulus funds. That, he said, will mean the county school system's state Basic Education Plan funding will be even lower.

Some estimates are that the state government's economic situation may not rebound before 2014, Parkins said.

A new source of revenue for Greene County and other area schools systems, Parkins said, could be a federal "Race to the Top" grant for which the state Department of Education is applying.

MEMORANDUM APPROVED

As part of its agenda, the County School Board approved a Memorandum of Understanding with the State Department of Education.

In November, U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan released the final application for more than $4 billion in "Race to the Top" funds, according to an article supplied to school board members.

Parkins said all local school systems were asked by the state Department of Understanding to sign the Memorandum of Understanding to show support for education reforms that the Race to the Top program is designed to bring about.

An Education Week article about the U.S. Department of Education's Race to the Top program said states must meet stringent accountability requirements.

"The U.S. Department of Education's proposed guidelines for awarding $4 billion in Race to the Top money send a strong message that any state hoping to land a grant must allow student test scores to be used in decisions about teacher compensation and evaluation," the Education Week article by said.

"According to draft plans outlined by department officials, states would be judged on 19 education reform criteria, from how friendly their charter school climates are to whether they cut state K-12 funding this year.

"But only two criteria would be absolute requirements: States must have been approved by the Education Department for stabilization funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (most already have been), and states must not have any laws in place barring the use of student-achievement data for evaluating teachers and principals."

It is unclear how much funding the Greene County School System could receive if Tennessee wins a share of the Race to the Top funds.

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