Darlington County Schools Dodge Furloughs – At Least for Now (SC)
May 24, 2010
Darlington County Superintendent of Education Dr. Rainey Knight said Friday that based on information she received Friday from Columbia, school district employees will be spared taking mandatory furlough days in the next budget year.
District officials and the county Board of Education have been considering three furlough days for teachers and six days for administrators in a move aimed at saving $867,343 in next year’s general operations budget.
But Knight said she was told Friday that the state has decided to freeze the Index of Taxpaying Ability – something she and district officials had been hoping for – for a cost savings to the district of $618,000.
“Based on what I know today, this district will not be furloughing,” Knight said.
“Freezing the index is a big step, it’s a big help,” she said.
She said she also believes lawmakers are leaning toward allowing school districts to freeze mandatory step increases in pay for teachers for one additional year of experience next year. Right now, the $867,000 it will take to fund a step increase is built into the district’s new budget. A freeze would save that amount, Knight said. “We probably will freeze it,” she said.
Officials are still waiting to see how the S.C. House and Senate reconcile differences in their versions of the $5 billion state budget and how the final product will affect the district budget.
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With more than $8.2 million already cut from the district’s current general operations budget, cuts that will carry over into the next budget year, district officials are also waiting now to see how some lingering pieces of legislation will impact the district’s funding, Knight said.
Only four people from the public, one of them Board of Education Chairman Connell Delaine, showed up for a public hearing on the budget in Darlington Tuesday.
In its current form, the district general operations budget stands at almost $61.6 million, compared to a budget at the start of this current budget year of more than $69.8 million.
The district will have just over $2.7 million in federal stabilization funds to use to cover utility expenses in the new fiscal year, Comptroller G.C. White said at the public hearing.
The plan also calls for the elimination of 40 teaching positions. The district has already cut 100 positions, including 60 teaching positions and 40 noncertified positions, from the current year’s budget.
Most of those – but not all – were absorbed through attrition, while all but a handful of retired teachers who had been brought back into the classroom were let go, White said. Six or seven retirees in key areas were retained, he said.
White said officials expect to retain five to seven retired teachers for the coming year, and officials anticipate handling most of the 40 position cuts through attrition. Any that cannot be absorbed that way will be handled through the district’ Reduction in Force (RIF) policy, he said.
Knight said the district will also face another funding reduction from the state as the result of a processing error discovered in April that leaves t he state with $60 million less in its budget.
“What we’ve heard is that it will mean about a 2 percent cut, but that won’t come from EFA (Education Finance Act),” Knight said. That means the student base cost will not be affected, but the money will have to come from other accounts, which could include funding for bus drivers, school nurses, career specialists or other areas, she said.
She said Friday she’s been told by state sources not to expect the legislative session to end on June 3 as planned. District officials hope to have final approval on the budget by the county Board of Education on June 14.
Knight said frustration is building as district officials wait to see what comes out of Columbia. “There must be about 25 bills still out that that can impact this budget,” she said.
“Each week is different, but we’re getting closer. Right now, it’s just wait and see. Hopefully we’ll have a budget ready for a final vote by June 14.”