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- News Archives: 2010-2017
Superintendent Presents Budget Proposal to Board of Education
Superintendent Maurice "Mo" Green unveiled a proposed operating budget of $619,328,682 for 2011-12 during the Guilford County Board of Education meeting Tuesday. The proposed budget anticipates substantial reductions in state funding, the ending of Title I and Exceptional Children federal stimulus dollars and rising operational costs. The anticipated $35.6 million in cuts build on and continue the $31.14 million in state funding losses Guilford County Schools (GCS) has experienced during the past two school years bringing the total state cuts faced by the district since 2008 to $66.76 million.
The budget proposal includes steps already taken to prepare for the tough budget year as well as additional proposed reductions. The district has already banked all but $1 million in federal EduJobs funding, limited the hiring of non-instructional and non-school based positions, held back 31 percent of weighted student formula funding from the 2010-11 budget, and adopted a multi-tier transportation system that will save between $700,000 and $1.3 million.
Additional proposed cuts will touch almost all areas of the school district, including central offices and schools. Central office administrative cuts total $6.4 million and include a reduction or redirection of approximately 64 full-time equivalent positions. The district also plans to generate $1 million in energy savings through its ongoing energy conservation program. Administrative support services funding accounts for about 18 percent of the district's total operating budget and includes items like transportation and technology that directly support schools.
With almost 82 percent of the budget being devoted to schools, the budget cuts also reach the classroom. The budget proposal adjusts staffing allotments at schools by increasing the student-teacher ratio by 0.25 students in grades K-12. This adjustment results in a reduction of approximately 37 school-based positions.
Additionally, as in the past two years, the district will hold back half of the weighted student formula dollars, about $5.9 million, from schools until the budget is finalized. Withholding these funds could result in a reduction of approximately eight to 10 positions.
The proposed budget does include a salary reduction equivalent to two days for all employees earning $35,000 or more per year to be used as a last resort if it is needed.
"Because I believe it provides the best opportunity to reach the goals of the strategic plan and has the best potential for keeping employees focused on serving the needs of our students, the approach I have chosen for the last two years is to try very hard to keep our employees, particularly our full-time employees, on the job," said Green. "We have used the redirection of personnel, the elimination of certain vacant positions and attrition rather than a significant reduction in force to manage position cuts. We plan to continue to use this approach as best we can this coming fiscal year."
District administrators developed the budget proposal without having an approved budget from the state. The state has asked school districts to anticipate up to 10 percent in cuts.
The superintendent's proposed budget is based on an estimated 9.6 percent cut in state funding. State funding is expected to account for 59.2 percent of the district's operating budget, while local funding will make up about 30.4 percent and federal funding 10.4 percent.
At the local funding level, the superintendent's budget proposal requests an increase of $5.14 million in funding for operations costs and an increase in the capital outlay appropriation from the Guilford County Board of Commissioners from $3.2 million this year to $7 million next year.
The district anticipates an increase of 692 students for the 2011-12 school year, which equals an increase of about 1,600 students since the 2008-09 school year when GCS received its last budget increase at the local level. The estimated cost to the district for next year's growth in student enrollment is $1.6 million. Pending state legislation, GCS may also pay more for increases in the employee retirement rate ($967,842) and employee health insurance ($374,045).
Increases in other sustaining operations are also anticipated, such as fuel costs ($544,024), workers' compensation ($435,603), maintenance costs ($329,054), computer/printer replacements ($412,236) and charter schools ($112,210). In total, the sustaining operations cost increase is $5.14 million.
"Thankfully, our support at the local level has been more stable, with the Board of County Commissioners providing flat funding the past two years," said Green. "Unfortunately, increases in student enrollment and other basic operating costs, as well as growing maintenance and repair needs at aging facilities, are stretching our local resources thin, particularly in regard to capital outlay."
The district's $68 million in Title I and Exceptional Children federal stimulus funding, which supported a total of approximately 750 full-time positions during the past three years, will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. While the district has banked about $13.9 million of the federal EduJobs funding to help alleviate the ending of the stimulus funding, the gap between resources and expenses remains wide.
GCS received $9.9 million in restricted Race to the Top funding, but it cannot be used to alleviate budget reductions. The district will use it to pay for state mandates and key strategic plan initiatives.
Despite the deep reductions in funding, GCS will move forward toward reaching the goals outlined in the district's strategic plan. By the conclusion of 2011, 84 out of the 98 strategies are scheduled to launch while 14 strategies will be on hold. Strategies moving forward include the promotion of K-12 literacy and the opening of a health sciences middle college at UNCG.
"Because of the leadership and efforts of dedicated employees, parents, community members, organizations, volunteers and others, our students have made significant progress since the plan began," Green said.
Even though the strategic plan was launched in the midst of the economic downturn, the district has met or made progress on 19 of the 23 academic measures outlined in that plan, including raising the graduation rate, increasing college scholarship totals, decreasing the number of low-performing schools and increasing the number of Schools of Excellence and Honor Schools of Excellence.
In addition to making progress on academic goals, several strategic plan initiatives were launched, including character development, One Million Books (becoming Two Million books in 2011-12), Guilford Parent Academy, regionalization and energy management.
"When we launched our strategic plan, we committed ourselves to executing the plan to the greatest extent possible, notwithstanding the economic situation, because we collectively agreed that it was the best thing to do for our students," said Green. "While we have made some great strides the last two years, there is much more work to be done. The goals of the strategic plan are not changing. Even during turbulent economic times, the needs of our students must come first."
The school board will review and discuss the superintendent's recommendations during a work session that begins at 11:30 a.m. on Tuesday, April 26. The meeting will be held in the Board Room of the district administrative office at 712 N. Eugene St., Greensboro. The public hearing for the budget is tentatively scheduled to be held during the board meeting on Thursday, April 28.
School board meetings begin at 6 p.m. and are held in the Eugene Street Board Room. The school board must adopt a proposed budget and present it to the county by May 15. The county commissioners are holding district meetings to hear comments and questions from the community about the county budget.
The meeting for Districts 1 and 2 is scheduled for Thursday, April 14 at 6:30 p.m. in the High Point Social Services Meeting Room, 325 E. Russell Ave., High Point.
Districts 4 and 5 will meet on Thursday, April 28 at 6:30 p.m. in the Commissioners' Meeting Room, 301 W. Market St., Greensboro.