Schools feel budget pinch

It’s time to look under the living room couch and in the kitchen cookie jar for spare change.

Because of massive funding cuts mostly from the state, crafting a school district budget for next year has meant area superintendents have had to look in places they never imagined for either cost savings or revenue.

The goal is not to change instruction, but areas not in the core services, such as athletics and field trips, will feel the pinch.

And the coming week promises to accelerate the budget debate.

The Staunton School Board will vote Monday night on whether to close either Dixon or Ware elementary schools and consolidate into one less elementary school next fall, saving $1 million.

The Staunton, Waynesboro and Augusta County school districts will count up early retirees and calculate savings.

And the superintendents of Waynesboro, Staunton and Augusta County will anxiously await Saturday’s deadline for the approval of the state budget from the General Assembly.

Regardless of which version of the state budget is approved, there will be more tweaking of school budgets to deal with shortfalls before final votes later this month.

Waynesboro School Board Chairman Jeremy Taylor seemed to sum up the difficult nature of this year’s budget deliberations.

“Not pretty,” Taylor said of the school district budget which creeps toward being workable.

Taylor also praised Superintendent Robin Crowder and Finance Director Bill Staton, saying they have “wrangled’’ with the ups and downs this year.

Staffing

Waynesboro Schools are asking Waynesboro City Council for $299,000 from last year’s budget surplus so the money can be applied to the operating budget for next year. Crowder said the money translates into saving 5 jobs.

Crowder said during a school board meeting last week that administrators had been briefed on the seriousness of the situation.

“We have met with administrators and told them this is where we are,’’ he said.

The Staunton Schools will tap into money from a bus reserve account to pay an early retirement incentive to teachers and support staff with 30 years of service.

“We won’t need to replace buses for two years,’’ said Superintendent Steven Nichols, who said the early retirements will soften the number of layoffs among professional and support staff Staunton would have otherwise been forced to make.

As it stands now, administrators and two support staff areas in Waynesboro are set to take four furlough days during the upcoming school year.

Quality of life

In both Staunton and Waynesboro, there are cutbacks on funding for field trips. Nichols said Staunton will ask businesses and parents to sponsor those trips. If that falls through, children will have to pay a fee.

Crowder said the upcoming budget cuts funding for field trip buses and drivers. “The school will have to charge the student if they want to go to Jamestown,’’ he said. Schools can also use internal accounts to fund field trips.

Augusta County Superintendent Gary McQuain said Augusta County schools are being asked to take field trips in the immediate area. If charter buses are used, McQuain said fundraisers or fees will have to be imposed.

As for athletics, Crowder said $7,000 is being trimmed from the school district budget for seventh and eighth-grade athletics. He said the hope is to sustain that athletic program through more revenue from concessions and scheduling with area private schools.

Nichols said the school district’s athletic program is being asked to cut $10,000 through reduced stipends and schedules.

Augusta County imposed a 40-mile limit from the county boundary for school athletic trips a year ago.

Discussion at this past week’s budget work sessions included what revenue could be gained from asking students to pay to play school sports.

The Augusta County School Board was briefed on a possible $75 per student fee for athletic participation.

While the idea could generate as much as $234,000, McQuain cautioned about imposing such a fee during tough economic times.

“It’s another expense for families who don’t have the money,” he said.

Facilities

Nichols said a goal had been to renovate Dixon Elementary and Lee High School.The recession has put off that plan indefinitely.

Now, either Ware or Dixon elementary schools will close, and one of the schools will serve as the consolidated school next year.

In Waynesboro, stimulus money provided new carpeting for William Perry Elementary and new windows at the Wayne Hills center for the Phoenix Program. Bids are out for upgraded bathrooms at Berkeley Glenn Elementary, Crowder said.

Last year, the Waynesboro School Board approved a long-term deal with Linc Services to upgrade the school district’s energy efficiency through equipment changes.

The program’s $5.1 million cost of financing heating, cooling and lighting improvements is to be paid back over time with the savings in energy costs.

Retiring Augusta County Superintendent McQuain has said that closing a school such as Ladd Elementary and renovating another are topics for future discussion, but not during the current budget cycle.

Staunton is considering inmate labor for overnight building cleaning, for a saving of $224,000.

Class size

Because of anticipated attrition and layoffs, pupil-teacher ratios could change in 2010-11 but are not expected to dramatically.

Crowder told the Waynesboro School Board Thursday that there will be some increased class sizes in schools next year because of the 10 to 14 professional and support staff not being replaced.

Enrollments are flatter in both Staunton and Augusta County.

Nichols said Staunton’s enrollment of 2,600 students is not expected to change much over the next few years, and he said “I expect we will see class sizes exactly as this year.”

McQuain said enrollment has decreased the past two years by just over 300 students. He does not anticipate much shift in pupil-teacher ratio next year.