County School Board Chairman Joe Smith has asked Supt. Justin Robertson to find $898,000 in alternative budget reductions while sparing cuts to school nurses, magnet school busing, the school print shop and two teacher jobs at the Washington Alternative School.
That would achieve a balanced budget using the projected $577.2 million in expected revenue.
Other board members, including Karitsa Mosley Jones and Ben Connor, said they would only be satisfied with a budget that reflects the "true needs" of the system and avoids any cuts. That would cost $603.6 million.
Ms. Jones said, "I'm voting no to any budget that eliminates anything - period. If we never ask for what we need, we will never get it."
County Mayor Weston Wamp and County Commission Chairman Jeff Eversole have advised the schools that a property tax increase is not in the offing this year.
A balanced budget presented by Supt. Robertson filled a $6 million gap with a number of reductions, including gaining $2.8 million by having each school reduce .5 position. There would be $1 million cut from capital maintenance, $200,000 by reducing benchmark tests and $107,300 by tightening up on a program that provides cell phones to certain on-call employees.
Supt. Robertson listed a $200,000 saving that would keep magnet school busing, but have students go to hub stops rather than getting door to door service.
He said the schools are expecting $2 million in new funding from the state.
Board member Jodi Schaffer said it appeared that cuts to the central office only amounted to "smoke and mirrors." She noted that the full contingent of social workers and student support personnel are still included.
Board member Felice Hadden said there had been "a big public outcry" on cutting 23 special education support personnel. She said, "I want those back in." She said those are "hands on working with our most vulnerable."
Supt. Robertson said that reduction "is what the staffing model produced." He also said there are already 40 unfilled special education positions.
Ms. Hadden said if Washington Alternative loses two teachers "I feel like they are being cut off at the knees." Supt. Robertson said "success programs" have been added at several schools that are handling some of the students that normally go to Washington Alternative.
On the print shop, the superintendent said that operation cannot continue to lose money. He said it may be possible to try it for another year and see if that budget can be balanced.
Ms. Schaffer said more reductions could be made in the central office. She said, "I don't feel like the administration is listening to us. This is the board's budget."
Supt. Robertson said, "We've offered a lot of options (for balancing the budget), but a lot of them have been shot down."
During the discussion, board member Larry Grohn asked about a program to recruit "teachers of color."
He noted that there are groups in the schools of MTOC and FTOC. Supt. Robertson said that stands for Male Teachers of Color and Female Teachers of Color.
Mr. Grohn said, "I can't imagine if we had a White Teachers Association."
Supt. Robertson said 13 percent of students are black males, but only three percent of teachers are black males. He said the schools strive for a diverse faculty.
Gary Kuehn, school board member who was a former principal, said he hired a black teacher "who kept so many of them (black male students) in school while mentoring them."