Schools adjust to evolving budget

By Gracie Hart
Staff Writer

With the state and local budget almost complete, at their meeting Monday night, Orange County school officials began developing a more concrete budget with the hope of funding a portion of extracurricular activities and reinstating positions cut earlier in the budget process.
Initially, Orange County schools prepared to cover a $4.6 million decrease in state funding, targeting more than 80 positions for elimination and cutting funds for numerous expenses including field trips and extracurricular activities. Though the governor has yet to sign the state budget, it looks like the school division will now face only a $3.3 million decrease with almost $1 million in fixed cost increases for a shortfall total of $4.3 million-almost $2 million less than a worst-case scenario.
Since the school division initially prepared for the worst, it looks like some of the more than 80 positions eliminated will be recalled. With local level funding, 24 positions may be recalled, nine of which were previously restored by the school board. This will leave a total of 58 full-time and one part-time position eliminated. Two of the positions are being recalled thanks to some tough budgeting by principals.
According to chief financial director Barbara Hill, principals were given the opportunity to make additional non-personnel cuts in their individual school budgets to recall one secretary position. Hill said principals were notified that the positions may be cut during the 2012 budget discussions and that any non-personnel budget cuts will be permanent, unless funding improves overall in the next few years, which is unlikely. Despite having already cut 15 percent from their non-personnel budgets, Orange County High School Principal Eugene Kotulka and Locust Grove Elementary School Principal Jesse Magruder cut more. Kotulka was able to cut an additional $25,468 from his budget to add back one of the three secretary positions cut at the high school. Originally the high school had seven secretaries but was cut down to four. Magruder cut an additional $31,402 to add back a secretary position at his school, keeping all three such positions at the elementary school.
"This was not done without some pain on their part," superintendent Dr. Bob Grimesey said. "This just shows the desperation we got to back in the beginning of the budget process."
Also included in the list of possible recalls is the athletic trainer position (which will be restored at part-time), partial taxpayer support for athletics and restoring after-school tutoring and activity bus routes. These three items add up to approximately $215,000. Not included in these is the restoration of the athletic director position which was previously added back into the budget by school board members at a reduced salary with an expanded job description.
Stipends are also being reduced. Monday night, Kotulka and Hill presented a proposal which would restore extracurricular stipends for all programs but at a decreased rate. Most coaches and assistants will now earn minimum wage, $7.25 per hour. Some may earn more, such as the head football coach at the high school who will earn $8.75 per hour. The jobs have been estimated as to how many hours they will take, information based on in-depth reports done by Roanoke County. For instance, the job of head football coach is expected to take 400 hours. Factor in that person's rate per hour of $8.75 and they will make $3,500 coaching football. However, that's still a 41 percent decrease from this year's stipend of $5,935.
"The goal was to make stipends fall within the [available funds] and ensuring compliance with minimum wage and fair labor standards while also reducing the number of coaching positions in favor of non-athletic positions and cutting money while maintaining equality," Grimesey said.
Some stipends that have been proposed to be cut at the high school are two assistant football coaches, a football scout and a junior varsity baseball coach. Overall, the stipend proposal calls for a 20.3 percent decrease in stipends paid at the high school level.
Similar situations are proposed at the middle school level. Locust Grove Middle School may see a 44.4 percent reduction in stipends and Prospect Heights Middle School may see a 51.8 percent reduction. Overall, the entire stipend amount will decrease 28.3 percent, from $232,242 this year to $166,428 next year.
While the board has indicated it will cover activity buses, security costs, stipends and salaries, the hope is that a plan introduced last month by Kotulka will cover the rest of the costs associated with extracurricular activities. Kotulka's plan included a combination of fundraising, gate receipts, sponsorships and pay-to-play in an effort to fund extracurricular programs with a 40 percent reduction in school board funding.
However, even partially funding extracurricular activities comes at a high cost for school board members, one that led them to request additional funding from the board of supervisors. With level funding, to partially fund activities would mean that three additional positions could not be recalled. With additional funding from the supervisors, the positions could be restored and extracurricular activities could be funded. While school board members requested an additional $241,000 from the supervisors last month, they didn't get any help when the board adopted the county budget Tuesday night.
While supervisors fully funded the schools' initial $46.9 million request, it did not act on the schools' supplemental funding request for extra-curricular activities.
"We express our appreciation for the supervisors and appreciate their effort to support level funding to schools," school board chairman Jerry Bledsoe said. "The supervisors really stood up again for us this year, just like they did last year. We requested an additional $241,000 for extracurricular activities [which] they couldn't fully support [but they] have suggested $200,000."
Hill said the increase, if granted, will be earmarked for activities with the understanding that it will be for one year only with a possible renewal in future years.
District 3 Supervisor Teel Goodwin said, "I still think we should support extracurricular activities, but I don't see enough support here. If we found enough money, I think we should do that."
District 1 Supervisor Shannon Abbs said the board discussed that possibility and agreed any supplemental school funding would come from the county's contingency fund.
Still, no one made a motion to fund the schools' request. However, the board agreed to add the item for consideration on its next meeting agenda.
Meanwhile, the school board will discuss the budget further in a worksession April 26. The final budget is expected to be presented and adopted in May.