Board aims to cut $5.2M: School officials consider furloughs, lowering number of assistant-principal jobs

Mar 9, 2010 — Winston-Salem Journal

Kim Underwood

Mar. 9, 2010 (McClatchy-Tribune Regional News delivered by Newstex) -- School-board members will begin tonight talking about how to shave at least $5.2 million from the budget for 2010-2011 school year and among the items on the table are furloughs, reducing the local supplement for teachers with master's degrees and reducing the number of assistant principals at elementary and middle schools.

Although some positions could be lost, the overall goal of the list of possibilities is to spread the pain, said Kerry Crutchfield, the finance director for the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools. "To make sure that nobody is shouldering more of the burden than others."

At its regular meeting tonight, the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Board of Education will consider a package of recommendations put together by a committee made up principals and central-office administrators.

The recommendations include a four-day furlough for 12-month employees.

Also up for discussion will be shorter furloughs for teachers and other employees who work less than 10 months.

Another possibility is cutting the local supplement to teachers who have master's degrees. The state base pay for teachers with master's degrees is 10 percent higher than for those with bachelor degrees only. That would not be affected.

At present, nine elementary and two middle schools in the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County school system have two assistant principals. Switching to a formula that creates some half-time positions would enable the school system to save $376,000.

It's possible that two schools might share an assistant principal, or, if a position came open, someone who had retired could take it as a half-time position, Crutchfield said.

An additional $516,000 could be saved by eliminating staff development paid for with local money.

Reducing supplements for sponsors and coaches could save $110,000. The school system already cut $89,000 from its budget for the 2009-2010 school year by requiring high-school athletics directors to teach full time.

Because school-board members will not discuss the recommendations until tonight, nothing is set in stone, Crutchfield said.

Messages left for Donny Lambeth, the chairman of the school board, and Tripp Jeffers, the president of the Forsyth County Association of Educators, were not immediately returned.

So far, the only new cut for the 2010-2011 school year that the board has approved is the suspension of a program that gives bonuses of $225 to $450 to teachers who learn new skills and develop collaborative projects. The board acted on that in September so that teachers could plan accordingly.

The board probably won't act on the other possible cuts until it votes on a budget in late April. The cuts are necessary because the state is both cutting revenue and increasing costs for local school systems.

For the city-county schools, the cuts include overall state funding reductions of $2.8 million and $500,000 in cuts for textbooks. The system will also have to come up with $1.9 million to cover higher matches for retirement and health-care costs.

The governor has told local systems that an additional 3 percent in cuts may be on the way so the situation could get much worse.

"It could jump by another $8 million," Crutchfield said. "If it does, we will be looking at a whole lot worse things than on this list. We're hopeful it won't get that bad."

Crutchfield would like to see the state take additional measures to get the economy back on track.

"Until we can create some jobs in this state, everything is going to keep spiraling down," he said.

Bringing up the possible cuts now, Crutchfield said, gives residents and educators a chance to be part of the decision-making process.

"I'm glad that we're trying to deal with it early in the process," he said.

kunderwood@wsjournal.com

727-7389

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Cutting the budget

Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools needs to cut at least $5.2 million from the 2010-2011 budget. Among the cuts being considered and their savings are:

Four-day furloughs for 12-month employees: $525,000

Cutting back on elementary and middle assistant principals: $376,000

Reduce costs in maintenance, custodial and transportation services: $460,000

Eliminate local supplements for retirees who work part time: $458,000

Eliminate locally financed staff development: $516,000

Reduce the supplement for coaches and sponsors by 5 percent: $110,000

Newstex ID: KRTB-0222-42709359