County BOE mulls tight budget

Jeremy Nash news-herald.net

Loudon County Board of Education could be facing a variety cuts in its upcoming 2019-20 budget.

Jason Vance, director of schools, presented board members during a budget committee meeting Thursday a starting fund balance of about $4 million with rollover revenue counted, and an ending fund balance of about $1.18 million, which is the 3 percent threshold required by the state.

“That’s with the understanding that you expense all your expenditures, you collect all your revenue and if all things are static and equal like we think they may be, then that will be what the picture looks like at the end of next year,” Vance said.

The BOE anticipates spending $2.8 million out of fund balance for the 2019-20 school year. If about $1 million rollover funds and a conservative $250,000 in growth money is provided from the county up front — rather than on the back end — that would reduce the draw from the fund balance to $1.6 million. A more definitive number should be known in the coming weeks, Vance said.

“We can facilitate a budget this year and still maintain our 3 percent minimum fund balance,” he said. “We cannot do that for the 2021 year. There’s going to have to be support somewhere along the way or we’re going to have to make cuts that are quite simply devastating to our programs.”

Proposed cuts in the budget include $730,000 from 13 teaching positions, a 10 percent reduction equaling $163,000 from the instructional supply fund and $100,000 less for technology. Other cuts include $50,000 for contingency teaching staff and $20,000 for contingency teacher assistant staffing.

“If you were to add that back in, say you’re going to a status quo budget, that’s $1 million plus the negative $2.8 million that we’re currently reflecting to obviously get to the negative $3.864 million figure, which would equate to roughly 33.17 cents in the current tax rate,” Vance said. “... I’ll argue that largest part of our budget is in relation to personnel. We’ve got things that we can’t cut like utility costs. You got to have instructional supplies, you got to have transportation for kids and so you get into the point where you start running pretty lean in regard to things that you can cut. We tried to stay away from student impacts as much as possible and so that’s why you see instructional supply money and technology supply money, cutting contingency teachers.”

If the board wished to have a “status quo” budget similar to this year and not make cuts, 33.17 cents from the current tax rate would be needed to make it a neutral budget. Cuts reflect 24.59 cents needed, and with cuts, rollover funding and growth money, the amount drops to 13.85 cents.

“We’re looking at break-even numbers,” Vance said. “I mean this isn’t necessarily what the board’s going to ask for as much as what would be zero impact on the budget. ... Obviously, they could give us an extra penny and we could choose to put in $100,000 because we get about $116,000 per penny. We could add a couple teachers back into it. Instead of 13 it might be 11. If we don’t get new funding from county commission we will absolutely have to make cuts this year.”

One penny in the current rate equates to $116,479, while 14 amounts to $1.63 million, according to information provided BOE members.

“I’m hearing the mayor and several commissioners saying they believe that there’s support for growth money, I’m just not sure how much more deeply they’ll be able to dig in the coffers for additional pennies,” Vance said.

BOE budget committee members have met twice with Loudon County Commission budget committee members. Hopes are for the full board and commission to meet later this month to discuss funding. Vance could not provide a meeting date by News-Herald presstime.

Bobby Johnson Jr., BOE member, wants commissioners to better understand the types of positions that could be cut.

“I’m not sure everybody knows exactly what their jobs (are) and to see what it’d be like if we cut those positions and how it would affect us and how it affects each school,” Johnson said. “I do know talking to some of the commissioners though if we get to count that local sales tax option, that’s about $1 million that we get to count up front instead of at the tail end, and if we can get that growth money that will help us with new (Basic Education Program) funding.”

Johnson is not in favor of asking for 33 cents, but he could see the possibility of 9-10 cents.

“If we get back to working like a team and taking care of one another, that’s where we need to be at,” Johnson said.

Scott Newman, school board member, agreed.

“I feel for the county commissioners because they’ve got everybody pulling at their coat strings saying, ‘I need this, I need that,’ and they have a really hard job to when you have to fund the whole county,” Newman said. “There’s going to be a big increase in manpower for the new jail that’s coming down the pike, so I feel for them.

“… I hope we can get together and talk and just let them know that we know that they’re not just throwing their nose at us, that we know they’re in a tight year also and that at the end of the day nobody, including me, wants to raise taxes,” he added.