School’s budget group to meet

The Santa Rosa County School Board Budget Committee has some difficult decisions to make to conform to major deficits expected in next years budget.

Cost cutting proposals continue being debated at the budget committee meetings; the next budget committee meeting will be on April 23 at 2 p.m.

Rogers said that there is a $2.5 billion deficit in the current budget projections.
Assistant Superintendent for Finance, Doug Dillon said legislators are anticipating 1.1 to 1.9 million dollars in additional budget cuts for the next year.

Rogers said effective July 1 there would be a 15% rollback district wide.

“This cut will generate several thousand dollars,” said Rogers. “The priority of this group [budget committee] is to maintain the classroom and to focus cuts where the classroom will not be affected.”

The committee has been meeting regularly to discuss changes being proposed in order to conform to the budget restrictions.
Some of the items on the agenda for next Tuesday’s Budget Committee meeting have been discussed several times over the last two months.
On March 18 the Budget Committee met to talk about some proposed cuts and cost saving measures being considered. These proposals included a cell phone policy, energy saving measures, voluntary retirement incentive program, leave buy back, three-tier transportation plan, and rethinking courtesy transportation.

During the meeting, Bill Emerson said energy conservation could result in a potential savings of $250,000. Energy saving measures began immediately, including turning computers off daily, speaking with contractors about unnecessary light usage, and ensuring lights are off when no one is using a room.

The committee favored three-tier transportation as a cost cutting measure that would not affect academics. This proposal was discussed further during the April 8 school board meeting.

Regarding the proposed transportation changes, “Three-tier [transportation] is a strong possibility for next year, as well as consolidated stops,” says Rogers. School Board Representative Ed Gray said, “In the eyes of the public, there is not a better change that we can make to help our budget situation without affecting academics than this transportation change.”

FTE Transportation’s Joey Harrell said going to a three-tier transportation model would offer Santa Rosa County Schools a savings of over $1.15 million on regular bus routes, $561,000 on additional routes, and $1.2 million on personnel costs.

The proposed change to a three-tier system would include consolidating routes, reducing one to two mile radius courtesy transportation, decreasing staff, and separating stops by a minimum of 400 feet.

Local parents have questioned the safety of the three-tier model of transportation discussed at the last school board meeting.
School board officials stated previously when discussing the proposal, “The safety of the children is our priority. We have hazardous walking areas that will not be affected by a new transportation model.”

The three-tier transportation proposal is expected to be voted on at the next School Board Meeting scheduled for April 24 at 6:30 p.m.
After the legislative session ends on May 2, the Board will have a better idea of the bottom line they will have to work with for the 2008-2009 school year.

The School Board will present the tentative 08-09 School Board Budget on July 24 at 10 a.m. in the Canal Street Boardroom.