The School Board seems to be holding firm on its request for an additional $1.7 million for next year, despite reservations from the Board of Supervisors.
At a joint meeting of the two bodies Jan. 27, the Board of Supervisors made it clear that despite the School Board’s slashing of its request by almost half, from an initial estimate of $3 million, further cuts would still be necessary.
“We don’t doubt that what you have here is a need,” Chairman Calvin Taylor said. “We’re not saying that it’s not a need, and I can tell you, if we could do what’s asked, we would.”
The Board of Supervisors estimated that funding the school system with an additional $1.7 million above last year’s operating budget of roughly $42.5 million would require a seven-cent tax increase for county citizens.
“I just personally don’t believe that the citizens in Caroline can afford that. Am I saying that they can afford not to have the quality education that students need? I don’t think they can afford that either,” said Taylor. “But I don’t believe that we’re going to do a seven-cent tax increase.”
Reedy Church Supervisor Reggie Underwood was even firmer, stating that a seven-cent tax increase “is just not going to happen.”
“I for one will not support any tax increase whatsoever in the county,” he told the School Board.
The budget being proposed by the School Board devotes considerable amounts of money to additional staff, salary increases, and a reworking of the teacher salary scale. The School Board presented the Board of Supervisors with a rough three-year scheme that would bring salaries up to the desired targets in stages, rather than through one major adjustment.
School superintendent Gregory Killough estimated that the School Board’s request for the next year would achieve about 40 percent of the target salary scale adjustment for teachers.
Madison Supervisor Wayne Acors challenged the School Board on the spending of its budget in prior years, expressing concern at the school system’s repeated year-end balance of zero. (The Board of Supervisors allocates funds in a lump sum to the School Board annually, leaving decisions about the allocation of those funds up to the other body.)
Acors argued that the school system’s needs haven’t changed over the past six years, but that the School Board was able in the past to ensure that money was left over at the end of the year.
“Were we spending at the last minute to make sure we had a zero budget balance because we were afraid we weren’t going to get it back?” he asked.
Killough, however, stated that needs have changed, citing increases in health insurance costs, several-year freezes of employee salaries in the wake of the 2008–2009 national recession, and the need to bring outdated technology closer to current standards.
“We just don’t want to fall further behind,” he said.
The two boards agreed to meet at a work session to continue discussions on what Taylor described as “a more realistic number.”
“The bottom line is, there is only so much money,” he told the School Board, suggesting that small cuts could be made within different school division departments to bring the budget request down.
At a public hearing held by the School Board on the budget Feb. 2, however, school officials showed no signs of significantly cutting their request further.
“State funding is flat. Federal funding is flat,” Director of Finance J. D. Martin told the School Board. “We have little choice but to ask the county to help us out.”
Presenting data on local funding for education in excess of minimum state-mandated requirements, Martin told the School Board that in fiscal year 2013–2014, “there were only 16 school (districts) that were funded less generously than Caroline County.”
He also noted that the amount of funds the county transferred to the school system for the current fiscal year is still $200,000 less than the county transfer of roughly $12.3 million for FY 2008–2009.
“I think when you look at a six-year budget trend and you see how tight we’ve run, this Board has done an excellent job … with very minimal support,” Killough said.
Citing the School Board’s work to fix the salary scale and come up with a three-year plan to execute that solution, he concluded, “I think you’ve done everything that has been asked by the Board of Supervisors.”
Madison School Board representative Shawn Kelley pointed out that the Board had already cut its request significantly, from just over $3 million to the current $1.7 million.
“We listen to every department, and the common theme that runs throughout every department is: ‘Underfunded. We’ve had to make cuts,’” he said. “I don’t look at anything on here and see something that’s not a necessity. At all. … This is our kids’ future that we’re dealing with here.”
But Chairman George Spaulding took a more pessimistic tone.
“Face facts, you can’t get blood out of a turnip, especially … six turnips,” he said. “It’s sickening. This is starting my 17th year as a Board member, and it has been the same way for 17 years.”
“We’re doing the best we can with what we’ve got,” he told the sparsely populated auditorium.
Only two citizens—Caroline High School freshman Andrew Payne and his father Timothy Payne—spoke at the public hearing, asking the Board to commit $32,900 in the budget to replace the marching band’s 12-year-old uniforms.
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