By Joshua Lucas
Staff Writer
CHAPEL HILL – State budget cuts won’t affect this year’s already-approved Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools budget nearly as much as district leaders had worried, officials told school board members last week.
“We’ve changed the numbers, and they’ve had a pretty dramatic effect – a positive effect,†Superintendent Neil Pedersen said.
The final budget passed by the General Assembly last week does not include as many funding cuts as originally proposed and includes money for teaching assistant positions and class-size reduction that some legislators had planned to cut. The budget passed the GOP-controlled legislature with veto-proof majorities.
The total estimated reduction in the state’s funding now comes to $5.2 million. District officials and the school board have already agreed to reduce current spending by $2.56 million and spend $2.1 million from the district’s fund balance to help cover the gap.
After some additional cuts and adjustments to the budget, including state-recommended reductions in spending on staff development and textbooks, the board was facing a balance of just shy of $164,312 left to be cut, assistant superintendent for support services Todd LoFrese said.
“Drastically different than what we were looking at before,†he said.
Other state-level revenue cuts and increased costs include cuts to central office costs and an extension of the school year by five days, to 185 days.
The board approved its budget request in April, asking the county for a $59.2 million local budget that assumed funding and tax rates remained consistent with this year’s levels.
Board members did express some concerns at the reduction in teacher workdays that would accompany the increase in instructional days, and at the district’s reliance on using the fund balance to cover so large a portion of the budget gap.
“This is better, but we’re still using money that’s only temporary,†board member Mia Burroughs noted. “There’s a cliff, and we’re still dealing with the cliff.â€
The board probably couldn’t rely on the fund balance to cover more of the gap, Pederson said, and might want to revisit other spending reductions.
“You are pretty much maxed out,†Pedersen said. “It’s hardly a rosy picture, but we were prepared for greater reductions.â€