Madison County schools expect shortfall of $2.5-$2.9 million

The troubling estimate is a combination of state funding cuts and a dip in the county tax digest.

“It’s a pretty safe bet that we’re going to lose at least $2.5 million next year in funding,” Madison County Superintendent Mitch McGhee said. “It could be higher.”

The $2.9 million figure is a worst-case scenario — as of right now.

McGhee unveiled a cost-cutting plan to the board of education (BOE) Tuesday to absorb a $2.5 million shortfall for 2009-2010.

“Our job right now is to get to that $2.5 million,” McGhee said.

The state has already decided where 30 percent of those cuts will come, McGhee said, since it will fund 15 fewer teaching positions in Madison County in 2009-2010.

The loss of those 15 teaching salaries equal roughly a $750,000 reduction in the budget next year.

“It’s not easy when you’re talking about teaching jobs, but when the state says you don’t earn 15 teachers anymore, pretty much that’s the first place you’ve got to go,” he said.

A handful of teachers are retiring or leaving next year, so the system hopes to slide its existing teachers into those vacated slots to avoid layoffs.

“We are going to continue to do everything we can … to find an appropriate position for displaced staff,” McGhee said. “And we’re going to continue that all the way up until the day school starts next year if we still have folks we haven’t found places for.”

Contracts are usually finalized in March. However, the school system will wait until an April called meeting to approve contracts.

Waiting an extra month give school leaders a better idea of how many vacancies the system will have for 2009-2010.

“Principals are telling me that if they’re given a little more time, they think some other folks are going to resign or go ahead and say that, ‘I don’t want a contract,’” McGhee said. “That’s going to open us up some more slots that we can move our folks into.”

However, given the dire situation, McGhee fears that every job can’t be saved.

“I now do believe there are going to be some folks that we would like to offer a contract to that — and that they would want a contract — that we’re not going to be able to,” McGhee said, noting that he didn’t have a specific figure. “We are going to have to have a reduction in force in some way, shape or form.”

The $750,000 reduction in teacher salaries still leaves the school system with $1.75 million in expenses it must eliminate.

Central office and administrative cuts — including some maintenance, custodial and technology expenses, as well as energy education and non-essential administrative travel — could reduce costs by another $500,000.

The school system could also take $500,000 out of reserves to help cover the shortfall, though it would deplete those funds below the state’s suggested levels.

“Our reserves become dangerously low, especially with the fact that I don’t believe that 2011 is going to be a much better budget year,” McGhee said.

He’s has also asked each principal to cut $102,000 from their school’s expenses, amounting to $714,000 in savings.

That would leave the school system with $36,000 left to trim. At that point, McGhee would recommend drawing that amount out of reserves.

But the sobering news is that slashing $2.5 million from the budget might not be enough.

“It’s entirely possible, from all the news coming out of everybody, of even more severe cuts,” McGhee said.

He noted that the national stimulus package money for education won’t likely stimulate the Madison County School System. Most of the funding is allotted for special education, while the senate cut most of the money for school construction.

“I’ll take any penny they give us; I am not very hopeful that we’re going to see a lot of money out of that that we can use to save positions,” McGhee said.

But the school system’s leadership is committed to finding ways to save jobs, he said.

Some teachers might have to move to another school within the system or earn an additional certification.

“We’re going to do our best to place people in jobs before school starts that we want to keep,” he said.

The superintendent said that the education system in the state is mired in a struggle of historic proportions.

“I try not to make grandiose statements that aren’t really based in reality, but I believe I can say that public education in Georgia is in the worst economic shape ever,” McGhee said.

The BOE has called a Feb. 23 meeting at 6:30 p.m. The school board will devote part of that time to further discuss the budget situation.