School Budget Woes to Continue in 2010

January 4, 2010

Barring a drastic economic turnaround, state budgets cuts for public schools, technical colleges and universities in 2009 may pale in comparison to the end result of state cuts for 2010.

November state revenues fell 16.2 percent short compared to last year’s November revenues, the state Department of Revenue reported. In early December, State Superintendent of Schools Kathy Cox said she anticipates public school districts will be cut another $39 million this spring to offset state revenue shortfalls.

The grim budget outlook threatens educator pay as K-12 and higher education leaders have already severely cut operations, travel and maintenance budgets.

Hall County sc hools, for example, received enough stimulus funding last year to end fiscal year 2009, which closed on June 30, with a $5.6 million state cut, according to Superintendent Will Schofield. Even with $7.1 million in stimulus funding for this fiscal year, already the district has absorbed roughly $9 million in state cuts and three teacher furlough days, he said.

About 88 percent of the district’s $211 million budget supports personnel, Schofield said.

"If you talk about major cuts, there’s pretty much nowhere else to go but personnel," he said.

Educational institutions implemented at least three furlough days this school year to comply with state requests. While many education leaders are bracing for at least three more furlough days this spring, it remains to be seen how many more unpaid days teachers and students will spend at home instead of in the classroom.

Educators say they expect Gov. Sonny Perdue to announce the state’s plan for furlough days and budget cuts in January.

Despite deeper cuts, the mantra continues to be "Do more with Georgia’s growing student population with less," especially for technical colleges.

Lanier Technical College President Mike Moye said the college had 4,099 students this fall and experienced a 32 percent enrollment growth compared to last year.

"During the fiscal year of July 1, 2009, through June 30, 2010, will have seen our largest ever budget cut and our largest ever enrollment," he said.

Although the technical college has two new facilities under construction on its Dawson and Forsyth campuses to help accommodate the enrollment growth, staffing the new buildings may prove problematic.

"Unfortunately, we may find ourselves in a ‘Catch-2 2’ situation," Moye said. "We have money to complete the buildings, we have money to purchase state of the art equipment for the occupations being taught, but we’re in a real quandary about the money needed to hire personnel for these new programs.

"Like everyone else," he said, "we will watch the economy and the budget writers in the General Assembly as they attempt to stretch the tax dollar for the entire state."

Schofield said it is time for educators to kick creativity into high gear as they try to maintain programs and improve educational opportunities for students with less money.

"I just think there are surprises around every corner in the era that we live in and I think we need to just frame them positively … to make monumental leaps forward," he said.