Board of Ed. forced to consider drastic cuts

If the County Commissioners reduce the school system budget to Maintenance of Effort (MOE), more cuts will be required beyond what has already been identified in the Superintendent's proposed budget.  These include reductions to Outdoor School, Media Clerks and Instructional Assistants. 

Also, depending on State funding levels, even further reductions may be necessary, including teaching staff and central office personnel.

Visit the Carroll County Times for a more in-depth article.

http://www.carrollcountytimes.com/news/local/school-system-considers-cutting-media-center-jobs-if-it-receives/article_33a1fd84-fdab-50d5-93c9-c4c97ed46bcc.html

Here's an excerpt from the article...

 

Even though Superintendent of Schools Steve Guthrie released a balanced proposed Fiscal Year 2014 operating budget request Wednesday, more budget cuts could still be coming down the line for Carroll County Public Schools.

 

In his proposed budget, Guthrie requested a one percent increase in revenue from the county, or $1.7 million more than the previous year’s approved budget, for FY14. Even with that increase, the superintendent and staff member Christopher Hartlove, Director of Administrative Services, announced more than $2.6 million in budget cuts at the meeting.

 

The reductions already in the budget include 20.5 full-time equivalent custodial positions that were cut through attrition, staff turnover, four central office positions and a Carroll Association of School Employees work-year reduction.

 

What Guthrie will receive from both the county and state for the FY14 budget is still unknown. The school system could get funded lower than his request at about the same amount from the county as last year or even lower than that at Maintenance of Effort, which is four million less than last year's funding. Flat funding could cause about a $3 million budget shortfall and Maintenance of Effort could cause a $9 million shortfall.

 

Being funded at the Maintenance of Effort level would be a hit to the school system because it is experiencing declining enrollment. Maintenance of Effort is a state law that mandates counties at least fund school systems at the same per-pupil amount for the upcoming year as they did the prior year. State mandates and inflationary costs still cause the school system funding needs to increase each year, according to Guthrie.

 

Some possible budget cuts that were discussed at a December work session if the school system has to cut about $9 million from its budget for being funded at the Maintenance of Effort level this fiscal year include cutting the full-time equivalent of 38 teachers, 88 kindergarten assistants, 24 media clerks and 3.8 media specialists. Another possible cut includes closing Outdoor School.

 

Those additional reductions add up to about $7.4 million in savings to add to the $2.6 million in cuts that have already been made for FY14.