Search the ArchivesNavigation Contact InformationThe Citizen Newspapers For Advertising Information Email us your news! For technical difficulties |
BoE mulls school cost cutsTue, 10/21/2008 - 3:51pm
By: Ben Nelms
Implement a four-day school week. Raise student-teacher ratios to the state limit. Reduce pay for high school sports programs. Keep a new elementary school empty. Stop buying new computers and school buses for a year. These were among the cost-cutting suggestions given Monday night to the Fayette County Board of Education by its Cost Cutting Committee. Facing a shortfall in state funding, a squeeze on local tax revenue and an uncertain outcome on a Nov. 4 education sales tax vote, the board approved only two small measures immediately. Recommendations were placed in three categories and, excluding ongoing staff cuts through attrition, totaled a minimum of $750,000 in easily recognizable cost-saving proposals. But it was the suggestions with no fixed cost savings that were the most eye-opening. School board members Monday night agreed to a first step by going ahead with energy-saving measures and minimizing overtime by the use of compensatory time. Made up of 16 school system staff and administrators, the Cost Cutting Committee’s Category 3 recommendations listed big ticket items that can be reduced by attrition beginning in the 2009-2010 school year. One idea — to cut benefits of all system employees — was downplayed even by the committee that put it on the table. The first of the 21 recommendations was to delay the opening of Rivers Elementary if the school system cannot afford to staff it. Another idea was to increase the student/teacher ratio to the upper limits of the state requirement. Underlying that proposal is that more students per classroom mean fewer teachers overall. Still others recommended reviewing the viability of 235-day contracts to replace the current 240-day contracts; reducing the paraprofessional contracts from 185 days to 180 days (a savings of $50,000); suspending the 10-year Facility Plan renovations for a year; suspending computer purchases for a year; suspending the purchase of new buses for a year; consider a four-day work week for students and teachers and reducing high school athletics and coaching supplements. Other Category 3 recommendations included allotting one media specialist per middle and high school; reviewing counselor allotments and reduce if possible; and reduce physical education positions to one at each elementary school. Board members said they will consider the recommendations. The first category, common sense ideas the committee said could be implemented immediately, included 32 recommendations. By far the great cost-saver would involve raising the thermostat on air conditioning systems 2-4 degrees and lowering thermostats in the winter by 2-4 degrees. Gyms’ temperatures would be raised 4-6 degrees for air conditioning and lowered 4-6 degrees for heating. This measure would save approximately $300,000, the committee said. Cost Cutting Committee member Sam Sweat agreed with board members that school principals should be enlisted to identify and implement a range of Category 1 items relating to energy-saving measures specific to their schools. The energy-saving measures alone would likely account for at least one-third of the $1 million budget savings said by Comptroller Laura Brock to be needed during the current school year. Other Category 1 ideas included removing the grass-cutting supplement and having custodians cut grass in the summer, a savings of $10,000; cut back 10 percent on athletic and academic field trips for a saving of $20,000; implement a four-day work week during the summer to save $40,000 ($20,000 in each fiscal year); reduce video outsourcing in Public Relations and purchase in-house equipment to save $25,000; eliminate color copying at central office ($3,000); use Open Office rather than Microsoft Office ($3,000); require food services to pay for commodity hauling ($12,000); require individuals to pay for background checks ($5,000); require administrative fees/dues to be paid by individuals ($15,000); and close the school system during the week of July 4, spring break, winter break and Christmas ($40,000). The recommendations for category 1 items for which a price could be fixed totaled $453,000. Other category 1 ideas carrying an undetermined monetary saving included proposals such as turning off lights when not in a classroom or office, evaluate rental fees of facilities, email the “By the Way” newsletter, educate teachers on the cost of substitutes, apply copy limits for staff in all schools, downsize secretarial staff in Human Resources, Operations and Instruction areas where feasible, use email instead of paper copies when possible, combine secretarial and clerical staff when possible at central office and Lafayette Education Center, recycle applicable materials at the various sites and remove all small appliances from classrooms and offices. Category 2 recommendations contained six big ticket items that could be reduced immediately for an approximate savings of at least $300,000. Those included (1) eliminate positions when possible and hire based on the superintendent’s review with Human Resources, (2) minimize overtime and encourage use of comp time if overtime is needed, (3) return 1,875 leased computers in December for a savings of $300,000, (4) do not purchase text books unless students are without, (5) relax the policy on comp time and (6) reduce benefits. The committee said a majority of members did not want benefits cut. The committee said it was in the best interest of the school system to avoid benefit cuts during the current school year, noting that the budget will be revisited after the Nov. 4 SPLOST vote. A lengthy discussion of the each category’s recommendations ensued, though the energy-saving measures and the comp time issue were the only ones at Monday’s meeting to gain immediate approval to implement. A complete list of recommendations is on the school system website under the Oct. 20 board documents section at www.fcboe.org. login to post comments
|
Copyright 2010 - Fayette Publishing, Inc. | Privacy Policy | Terms of Use Policy
Server 4
