
{"id":20332,"date":"2011-08-18T12:24:23","date_gmt":"2011-08-18T16:24:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.carrborocitizen.com\/main\/?p=20332"},"modified":"2011-08-18T12:24:23","modified_gmt":"2011-08-18T16:24:23","slug":"state-takes-a-bite-out-of-local-school-budget","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/2011\/08\/18\/state-takes-a-bite-out-of-local-school-budget\/","title":{"rendered":"State takes a bite out of local school budget"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>By Susan Dickson<br \/>\n<\/strong><em>Staff Writer<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>This story is the second in a series about the real and potential effects to Orange County residents of state budget cuts. This week, we look at the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools system.<br \/>\n<\/em><br \/>\nIn a county that was built around the first state university, public education \u00e2\u20ac\u201c and with it, the two public school systems \u00e2\u20ac\u201c has become one of Orange County\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s most prized assets. <\/p>\n<p>Drawing families from around the country, Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools is widely regarded as one of the nation\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s best school systems. Over the past few years, the district has dealt with a number of financial blows at the local, state and federal levels, though the county\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s continued support for public education has helped to maintain the schools\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 status. <\/p>\n<p>This year, however, things got a bit dicey, with a $5.75 million reduction in state funding and a deeply divided state legislature keeping much of the schools\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 fate in limbo. <\/p>\n<p>The Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools Board of Education adopted the district\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s 2011-12 operating budget last week, following the passage of the final state budget \u00e2\u20ac\u201c which includes a 5.8 percent cut to K-12 education to help close a nearly $2.5 billion shortfall. <\/p>\n<p>The district had been asked to make $2.5 million in discretionary reductions in the previous state budget, which staff agreed to again make in the 2011-12 budget. To account for the additional reduction requirements, the district eliminated mentor pay ($83,187) and reduced funding for classroom materials ($188,000) and textbooks ($617,916). <\/p>\n<p>Though the state identified other areas for reductions, including salaries and benefits, transportation, instructional supplies and equipment and school technology, the board was able to avoid these cuts by appropriating fund balance, basically the district\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s savings account. Overall, the budget includes the use of $2.6 million of fund balance, about $2.1 million to cover the gap in state funding and $500,000 to make up the local funding difference. <\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve looked for any possible way to avoid having to make reductions to the classroom,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d said Todd LoFrese, assistant superintendent for support services with CHCCS. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153By taking those steps in addition to two years of reductions previous to this, we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve run out of places to look to help protect the classroom.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p><strong>In the classroom<br \/>\n<\/strong>So what do these numbers mean for the kids?<\/p>\n<p>The schools haven\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t gotten new textbooks in three years \u00e2\u20ac\u201c only replacement books or books for an increase in students. <\/p>\n<p>A reduction in funding for classroom supplies will be felt by both students and teachers. <\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Those are resources that go directly to classrooms to support kids,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d LoFrese  said. <\/p>\n<p>The state also eliminated funding for professional development, which is important for new teachers as well as experienced teachers as new programs and mandates are implemented, he said. <\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve had to look at other ways to fund those programs,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d LoFrese said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153When I look at where we ended up this budget year, by and large the way that we maintained the programs that we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve held so dear is by allocating fund balance.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d <\/p>\n<p>However, those funds are not money the district can rely on, he added. <\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153There will be less fund balance available to use,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153When we start building our budget \u00e2\u20ac\u201c the process starts in October \u00e2\u20ac\u201c we have a $2.6 million hole to begin with.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p><strong>Pre-kindergarten in limbo<br \/>\n<\/strong>Last week, Gov. Beverly Perdue ordered that the pre-kindergarten program, previously known as More at Four, be available for all eligible at-risk children, regardless of whether their families can pay fees included for most families in the recently passed state budget. The budget cut pre-kindergarten spending by 20 percent \u00e2\u20ac\u201c $200,000 for CHCCS \u00e2\u20ac\u201c and required most families to pay fees for the program. <\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153What the governor has stated is that we need to be providing services \u00e2\u20ac\u201c the state needs to provide services for all kids who need it,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d LoFrese said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The funding isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t there right now, so we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re waiting to see how this all develops.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p>Following Perdue\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s mandate, the legislature has not yet resolved how it will fund the program.  <\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153The other factor for us is we don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have any space,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d LoFrese said, adding that elementary school classrooms are already crowded. <\/p>\n<p>Chapel Hill-Carrboro has about 80 kids on the waiting list for the pre-kindergarten program, which would equate to about seven more pre-kindergarten classrooms. <\/p>\n<p>Board Chair Jamezetta Bedford said that the board had already determined that it would use local dollars and fund balance to continue the pre-kindergarten program without charging fees to families who could not afford them.  <\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Our district said we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re not going to send any of those kids away,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d she said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s just one of the biggest, most effective ways for closing the achievement gaps.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d <\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153The Republicans think of 3- and 4-year-old education as day care,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d she added. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153We think of it as education.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d <\/p>\n<p><strong>What\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s next?<br \/>\n<\/strong>Because local funding represents about 50 percent of the school district\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s budget \u00e2\u20ac\u201c more than in most North Carolina counties \u00e2\u20ac\u201c CHCCS has been more insulated than others from deep state cuts. The district\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s fund balance has also helped prevent cuts, but there won\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t always be fund balance to use. <\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll have it again one more year after this,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Bedford said. <\/p>\n<p>After the fund balance runs out and if funding isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t available at the state and local levels, cuts will have to be made to the classroom, she said, and secondary students will have less elective choice and class sizes will grow. <\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153This is worldwide, and we are going to have to think a little differently,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Bedford said. <\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153The hope is that the economy improves, that funding is restored at the state level, that the local economy improves and that perhaps our revenues will increase to offset that one-time fund-balance allocation,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d LoFrese said. <\/p>\n<p>However, any funding increase is likely to go toward salaries, he said. <\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Staff members in public education have gone three years without a salary increase, and their benefits are decreasing,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I think there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s going to be a lot of pressure on the General Assembly to provide some cost-of-living increase for staff.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d <\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153It may be three, four, five years before we see a turnaround,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d LoFrese added. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re not out of the woods yet.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In a county that was built around the first state university, public education \u00e2\u20ac\u201c and with it, the two public school systems \u00e2\u20ac\u201c has become one of Orange County\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s most prized assets. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,30],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20332","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","category-top-story"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20332","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20332"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20332\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20364,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20332\/revisions\/20364"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20332"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20332"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20332"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}