By Susan Dickson
Staff Writer
Now that the county commissioners have completed their 2007-08 fiscal year budget, the schools must decide the changes, cuts and additions to make to this year’s school budget.
The Chapel Hill-Carrboro Board of Education will consider potential changes to the 2007-08 school year budget at meetings tonight and next Thursday.
Superintendent Neil Pedersen has made recommendations to the board regarding the budget, including possible reductions as well as priority enhancements.
In late June, the Board of County Commissioners approved a 4.7 cent property tax increase, as well as a 1.5 cent increase on the Chapel Hill-Carrboro special district tax.
With the tax increases, Chapel Hill-Carrboro schools will receive about $3.3 million more than last year.
Chapel Hill-Carrboro Board of Education Chair Jamezetta Bedford said she was pleased the commissioners decided to increase the Chapel Hill-Carrboro special district tax as well as the county property tax.
“It was a tough budget season,†Bedford said. “It’s tough for us because we’re opening Carrboro High School.†Bedford added that she anticipates next year’s budget will be tight as well, with the opening of a new elementary school and adding a senior class to Carrboro High.
Pedersen’s recommended reductions for this school year’s budget include reducing funding for student field trips, reducing substitute teacher assistants, eliminating transportation to the dual language and LEAP programs and more.
Bedford said the board will examine the potential reductions and changes more closely and rank any cuts or reductions by priority. In addition, board members will rank new programs they would most like to fund.
She noted that one of her highest priorities is a pilot day treatment program for students who are transitioning back to school after being out for health reasons or mental illness.
In addition, Bedford said she would not vote to cut funding for transportation to the district’s dual language and LEAP programs.
“I just think that’s incredibly inequitable,†she said.
Although the district will not be able to add as many new programs and services as officials had hoped, the cuts will not be as deep as previously anticipated.
The school board had requested a budget increase of $6.8 million. However, County Manager Laura Blackmon had recommended a budget that included no increase in the per-pupil allocation and no increase on the special district tax, which would have increased funding to Chapel Hill-Carrboro schools by $535,000.
The commissioners had said they hoped to limit this year’s tax increase to equal debt-service payment increases. The county has increased the tax rate about six cents in each of the last two years.
County commissioners increased the allocation to the schools by raising the proposed tax increase, after hearing pleas for more funding for the schools from hundreds of parents across the district at public hearings in late May and early June.
The school board will consider the budget tonight at 7 p.m. at the Lincoln Center on Merritt Mill Road and next Thursday at 7 p.m. at the Chapel Hill Town Hall.