
{"id":6710,"date":"2009-08-14T06:50:16","date_gmt":"2009-08-14T14:50:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.carrborocitizen.com\/main\/?p=6710"},"modified":"2009-08-14T06:50:16","modified_gmt":"2009-08-14T14:50:16","slug":"schools-look-for-another-2-8-million-in-cuts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/2009\/08\/14\/schools-look-for-another-2-8-million-in-cuts\/","title":{"rendered":"Schools look for another $2.8 million in cuts"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>By Beth Mechum<\/strong><br \/>\n<em>Staff Writer<\/em><\/p>\n<p>With the final version of the state budget signed into law last week, officials with the Chapel Hill-Carrboro school system are studying how to cut an additional $2.8 million. The school board meets tonight to discuss the details of a tentative plan outlined last week by schools Superintendent Neil Pedersen.<\/p>\n<p>Pedersen said he was well aware that a reduction was coming, so the school system planned for it the best it could.<br \/>\n<!--more--><br \/>\n\u00e2\u20ac\u0153We were well positioned to make the necessary reductions,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Pedersen said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Overall, that will be a reduction of about 33 additional classroom teachers, and for the most part that will not require layoffs of teachers. That can be handled through normal attrition.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p> \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Once the school year starts, if challenges are presented, the local schools will make adjustments accordingly,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d board member Annetta Streater said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Students and teachers have been preparing for this for a while, so I think they will be able to make a reasonable adjustment.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p>Streater said the board had already discussed a plan for further budget cuts, so she expects there won\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t be much new to report after the meeting, though that doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t mean it will all be easy.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I would say that the biggest change we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll have to deal with is improving students\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 accountability and how to still be able to provide those services without the funding,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Streater said.<\/p>\n<p>Pedersen\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s plans for the additional cuts include:<\/p>\n<p>Discretionary Reduction:  $1,803,275<\/p>\n<p>In planning for the 2009-10 school year, allotments were based on class sizes that are two students larger than last year\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s in grades 4 through 12, which generated a savings of approximately 30 teaching positions, which is equivalent to the discretionary reduction. <\/p>\n<p>Most of the 40 teacher assistants who were unsure of whether they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d be cut will be back.<\/p>\n<p>School technology: $72,127<\/p>\n<p>Pedersen expects additional state technology funds should more than account for this reduction, including money from IDEA funding for special-education students.<\/p>\n<p>Textbooks: $386,488<\/p>\n<p>New math textbooks will not be adopted this year.<\/p>\n<p>Improving student accountability: $194, 448<\/p>\n<p>Last year, these funds were used to help underachieving students and facilitate staff development, but this money can also come from the disadvantaged-student supplemental funds. The school system also saved about $200,000 in at-risk funds by shortening summer school by four days this year.<\/p>\n<p>Transportation: $45,388<\/p>\n<p>The director of transportation is working on making existing bus routes more efficient. There is normally a surplus in this account from field-trip charges. After-school transportation should not be affected.<\/p>\n<p>Limited English Proficient Students: $29,772<\/p>\n<p>This reduction might need to be restored with local funds.<\/p>\n<p>Staff Development: $89,383<\/p>\n<p>All state staff-development funds have been eliminated. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s recommended that some funds be kept in reserve at the district office to support professional-development opportunities. Also, Title I schools receive additional funds.<\/p>\n<p>Mentor Posistions: $15,321<\/p>\n<p>It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s expected that Title II funds can be used to support mentoring.<\/p>\n<p>Non-Instructional Support:  $80,333<\/p>\n<p>This category includes custodians, office personnel and substitutes. There are already two custodial vacancies, which will continue to stay vacant.<\/p>\n<p>Central Office: $123,858<\/p>\n<p>Because of local budget reductions, the central office had already cut $750,000. The board is unsure how they will accommodate the additional cuts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Beth Mechum Staff Writer With the final version of the state budget signed into law last week, officials with the Chapel Hill-Carrboro school system are studying how to cut an additional $2.8 million. The school board meets tonight to discuss the details of a tentative plan outlined last week by schools Superintendent Neil Pedersen&#8230;.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6710","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6710","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\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6710"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6710\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6711,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6710\/revisions\/6711"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6710"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6710"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6710"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}