A public showdown is set to determine who is the big bad wolf trying to withhold annual classroom supply money from teachers in Rowan-Salisbury Schools.
School officials will have to dedicate money for classroom supplies or adopt a resolution asking theRowan County Commissioners for approval to spend the money for other purposes.
During the past few weeks, school officials have told teachers that commissioners have ended the classroom supply money.
Commissioners have said repeatedly that the $375,000 for classroom supplies is in the budget. They contend that the school administration wants to use the money for other purposes and has unfairly blamed the commissioners.
Steve Blount, chairman of the Rowan County Board of Commissioners, said the county was agreeable, given the tight budget year and the inability of the county to provide full funding at state average for all students.
In recent weeks, commissioners have felt the ire of teachers, who have been told that the classroom supply program has ended. At recent meetings, commissioners have swapped stories about being confronted by teachers over the issue.
Following weeks of controversy, County Manager Tim Russell is proposing a budget resolution that will force school officials to either use the money for classroom supplies or publicly ask that it be directed elsewhere.
Russell sent a letter to Superintendent Dr. Wiley Doby on Monday, providing a copy of the budget resolution that commissioners expect to adopt later today.
The letter contained wording from the budget ordinance: “The Board of Commissioners hereby appropriates the sum of $396,954 to be used by the Boards of Education to provide additional classroom supplies and materials directly to classroom teachers. The intent of the appropriation is to increase (not replace) funds to be used by the classroom teachers for instruction.
“Release of such funds to the Boards will be in lump sum amount upon the adoption of a resolution by each Board of Education reflecting the approval of the intended purpose.”
The resolution specifies that the payments will be made in lump sum to the school boards on or after July 15, pending receipt of the resolution of intended purpose.
The appropriation is shared with the Kannapolis City Schools and Rowan Academy charter school, based on student membership. Kannapolis would received $18,799 for supplies and $3,155 would go to the charter school, if the budget is adopted as proposed.
The classroom supply money evolved from a series of public hearings on education commissioners conducted in 1998. They heard pleas from teachers who said they spent their own money for classroom supplies.
Rowan-Salisbury Schools matched the allocation, creating a $700,000 fund.
The county’s 1,200 teachers have received around $500 each to spend as they wish. Commissioners insisted that teachers decide how the money would be spent and that it be spent for academic instruction only.
Bill Bucher, the school system’s finance director, said the system will probably have to use at least some of the classroom-supply money for other purposes.
That’s because the county’s funding will increase only 1.5 percent from last year, while the state average county officials had committed to meet is more like 9 percent.
The 1.5 percent increase amounts to a difference of $373,000.
“If you’re comparing it to what they gave us last year, yes, it’s an increase... But although it can be said to be an increase, for us it’s going to be a step backward. Our natural gas costs alone rose $300,000 this year...”
Bucher said the school system has a choice: supplies or staff.
“It’s fairly obvious that we’re going to have use that classroom supply money in other areas in order to avoid cutting positions,” Bucher said.
The county’s 2001-2002 budget resolution to be considered at a meeting at 2 p.m. today breaks down the total amounts earmarked for schools for all purposes.
The total allocation to schools for the 2001-2002 budget is $32 million, just over one-third of the county’s total budget. In current expense, Rowan-Salisbury Schools are set to receive $24.6 million; Kannapolis, $1.2 million, Rowan Academy, $207,000. The total amount allocated for operating is more than $26 million.
Schools will receive another $1.9 million for capital outlay, money generally used for buildings or long=term equipment purchases. Rowan Salisbury would get $1.8 million, Kannapolis, $93,000. Capital outlay funds come from sales tax.
The county is also appropriating almost $4 million to pay on school bonds sold in 1993, 1994 and 1996. Just over half of that amount will come from sales tax. The remaining $1.8 million will be taken from the county’s general fund.
Contact reporters at 704-797-4255 or news@salisburypost.com
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