By Steve Huffman
shuffman@salisburypost.com
EAST SPENCER ó A reduction in fuel costs will help the Rowan-Salisbury School System reimburse more than $800,000 to the state.
Members of the school system’s Finance and Budget Committee met Thursday to discuss the cuts, mandated by the state because of the sagging economy.
The reduction for each system depends on enrollment. The Rowan-Salisbury system must cut its budget by $817,637.
Tara Trexler, the school system’s chief financial officer, presented committee members a list of proposed budget cuts. Those cuts come from a variety of areas, the largest being $270,000 from a fuel reserve allocation.
Trexler and Gene Miller, the system’s assistant superintendent for operations, said when the current budget was approved, diesel fuel was selling for close to $4 a gallon.
The system is now paying $2.11 per gallon.
“We were expecting over and above the $4,” Miller said. “We budgeted at the higher end.”
Any recommendation by committee members will be presented to members of the Rowan-Salisbury Board of Education when they meet Dec. 15. School board members have the final say in approving the cuts, which must be presented to the state by Dec. 19.
In addition to the $270,000 cut in fuel reserves, the cuts that Trexler recommended include:
– $175,000 from administrative fees and indirect costs for federal programs not previously budgeted. Committee members said this savings comes from administrative costs related to grant money.
– $171,117 from lapsed salaries in central office positions and benefits.
Trexler said those lapsed salaries come from positions that haven’t been filled. She referred to four technology positions for which qualified applicants are difficult to find.
Trexler spoke of a network administrator’s position that pays about $65,000 annually.
“This one, we’re desperately seeking” applicants, she said. “It’s so specialized it’s not filled.”
Trexler said that of the $171,117 in budget savings in that area, $25,000 comes from savings in the cost of insurance and benefits.
– $80,000 from state funding received prior to initial allotments in excess of projected amount. This, committee members said, comes because the system received more money than expected due to an increased number of disadvantaged children.
– $78,820 from lapsed salaries and related benefits in instructional positions.
Committee members said much of that savings comes from reducing the number of reading assistants at elementary schools from three to two.
“That’s sort of a unique situation this year, too,” Trexler said.
– $23,063 from lapsed salaries and benefits for school support positions.
– $19,637 from saving on various supplies.
“Traditionally, we don’t spend to zero for supplies,” Trexler said.
School board member Karen Carpenter, also a member of the Finance and Budget Committee, said she was pleased none of the proposed cuts will affect particular classes or schools.
“We talked about minimizing the impact on classrooms and individual schools,” Carpenter said.
She asked if the school system’s fund balance will remain as it was and Trexler said it would.
Carpenter then asked if the system might expect similar reductions in state funding in the coming year if economic woes continue.
Trexler said such reductions are “very possible.
“Next year, we may be looking at the fund balance,” she warned.
But Trexler also noted the system has recently undergone an audit that revealed its finances were healthy.
Delores Morris, assistant superintendent of human resources, praised Trexler for the proposed cuts, but noted the money wouldn’t have been wasted had the system kept it.
“We could always use the money,” Morris said. “I don’t want anyone to think we couldn’t.”
She noted the sour state of the economy is evidenced by the quality of applicants the system has for any number of job openings ó clerical and custodial, included.
“We get a high quality of people and lots more people” applying for those jobs,” Morris said.