Schools brace for more cuts

With the Campbell County School Board scheduled to vote on the division’s 2010-11 budget Monday, Superintendent Robert Johnson said he plans to bring additional details on funding reductions to that meeting and does not plan to propose significant restorations to earlier recommendations.

“The only changes I am going to make are additional recommendations, additional cuts,” Johnson said on Thursday. He added that he was putting together details for school board members and declined to say yet what those additional proposed cuts would be.

Johnson previously has recommended reductions that include closing Gladys Elementary School, eliminating 65 teaching positions, closing or scaling back the Fray Educational Center and cutting pay for the 20/20 retirement program. He has said he hopes much of the staff cuts could be accomplished by attrition and retirements rather than layoffs.

Johnson also said that he does not support a 5 percent pay reduction for school employees, an idea that many school employees opposed during a public hearing at the March 15 school board meeting.

Johnson said he had compiled new information for school board members, based on his analysis of Department of Education data released after the General Assembly approved a budget earlier this month. He said the school division faces a shortfall of about $7.9 million and an overall gap of roughly $8.8 million, taking increased expenditures into account.

In Lynchburg and Bedford County, superintendents proposed closing elementary schools, then scrapped those proposals for a variety of reasons. Throughout the budget process, Johnson has taken a slightly different tact from superintendents in Bedford and Lynchburg, choosing not to emphasize worst-case scenarios based on Gov. Bob McDonnell’s budget proposals.

Johnson said he already has taken lowered Virginia Retirement System contribution rates into consideration. He does not anticipate finding any last-hour VRS savings, as was the case in Lynchburg.

During the March 15 school board meeting, Johnson showed school board members four potential budget plans: two that included the closure of Gladys Elementary and two that included 5 percent pay cuts. Johnson drew up the plans with the pay cut at the request of school board member George Jones, who has said he no longer supports the idea.

Johnson presented four plans in order to reflect differences between projected school aid in House and Senate versions of the state budget. Legislators have now reconciled the differences in their budgets and the final version awaits the governor’s signature.

Jones said just more than a week ago that he was waiting on word from Johnson on the Department of Education figures before he decided what budget cuts he would support. He added that he was interested to see how state funding would look on some specific items including pre-K, the Virginia Retirement System and school buses.

“Until I know what the actual numbers are, I don’t want to speculate on what to do,” Jones said. “I obviously don’t want to see Gladys closed.”

School board member Leon Brandt said the same day that he also was waiting on information from Johnson, but that if the figure was about $9 million, it would be hard to avoid tough cuts.

“I think we have no choice but to close Gladys Elementary School.” Brandt said. “I hope that we can limit the people we are going to have to dismiss.”

Brandt said he continues to feel un-funded federal and state mandates have played a major role in causing the budget woes for the division.

School board member Gary Mattox said he was waiting on information from Johnson, and declined in general to say how he would vote Monday. Other school board members either did not return phone calls or could not be reached.