Cuts in the state education budget will cost Moore County Schools [MCS] $600,000 this school year, Chief Financial Officer Mike Griffin told the Moore County Board of Education during their Monday, September 9 regular meeting.
That's a bit less than one percent of the $64.2 million MCS expects to receive from the state.
The largest cut is to the budget for teacher assistants, Griffin told the Board. Last year, the state provided $4.4 million for assistants; this year, the number is $3.7 million, a $700,000 reduction. That's equivalent to twenty-eight teacher assistant positions, Griffin said. Twenty unfilled positions have been eliminated; eight others will be paid for via federal Title I funds, in order to avoid layoffs. Title I funds are directed to schools with a large number of students from low-income families.
The state doesn't simply send MCS $64 million a year to do with what they will. Instead, state funding comes in more than 30 different streams aimed at specific needs, from Central Office Administration to At-Risk Student Services. Some of these, like funds directed to educating exceptional children, will increase this year; most are seeing cuts.
Loss of flexibility costs MCS $1.4 million
The state will also stick with a rule change that cost Moore County $1.4 million in state funding last year. Unlike most of the revenue streams MCS receives from the state, the largest, which provides nearly $32 million for classroom teachers, comes denominated not in dollars, but in teachers.
Based on the number of students enrolled in Moore County Schools, the state allocates a certain number of teachers to the County. Last year it was 535. The NC Department of Public Instruction multiplies that number by the average cost of a teacher in the state, roughly $57,000 per year. That number includes salary, payroll taxes, and benefits.
But Moore County teachers are, on average, younger than the state average, and thus don't cost as much to employ. From FY2010 to FY2012, MCS was able to use that difference, which amounted to $1.4 million systemwide, for other programs and to increase its fund balance.
Beginning last year, that flexibility was taken away, and the $1.4 million went back to the state. The same thing will happen this year, Griffin said.
Exactly how many MCS classroom teachers the state will pay for this year is not yet certain, since that depends on enrollment measured on the twentieth day of the school year.
County Funding Increases
Total County funding, at $29.8 million, is up this year compared to last, because the Board of Commissioners placed $750,000 in a new Digital Technology fund, managed by the County, that will help buy laptops and tablet computers for students.
Half of that $750,000 is new funding, and half was subtracted from the County's $25.5 million contribution to MCS operating costs.
Another source of local funding — from fines and forfeitures in criminal cases — has been steadily declining. In 2008, fines and forfeitures contributed nearly $850,000 to the MCS budget. Last year, it was $566,000, and no increase is expected this year.
Based on currently approved federal funding, Griffin's FY 2014 budget showed $7.4 million in federal funding. But that number will rise, he said, once the new federal fiscal year begins on October 1.
Federal funding for services for exceptional children is one area that is seeing cuts, dropping from $2.9 million last year to $2.3 million this year. Griffin said that cut comes despite a significant increase in demand for such services. Perhaps anticipating those cuts, state funding for exceptional children will increase by $270,000.
Federal funding under Title 1, aimed at schools with a large number of students from low-income families, will increase by nearly $470,000.
Fund balance will drop by $4 million
Griffin is projecting $29.8 million in locally funded expenditure against $25.8 million in local revenues, leaving a $4 million shortfall that will have to be subtracted from MCS' $10 million savings account, referred to in government accounting as the "fund balance."
That will leaves MCS with $6 million in the bank. Griffin said that amounts to 6.3 percent of the total of state and local funding. A rule of thumb in that government identities should have enough cash in the bank to cover one month's expenses — that is, a fund balance of eight percent. Four percent would be considered a bare minimum, Griffin said.
The loss that MCS is taking to its fund balance will support a variety of initiatives. Griffin's presentation highlighted the addition of three Digital Integration Facilitators, one teaching position aimed at Academically Gifted students, one Advanced Placement Position, two teaching positions aimed at Careers and Entrepreneurship, five instructional coaching positions for Title 1 schools, two instructional intervention coaches, and the new Spanish Immersion kindergarten program at West End Elementary.
After Griffin concluded his presentation, the Board voted unanimously to approved what is known as "the original budget" for FY 2014, a nod to the fact that it will change many times in the coming months.
Other Business
In other business during the Board of Education's Monday, September 9 meeting:
• Growing to Greatness Awards were given to Shawna Fink, a third grade teacher at Aberdeen Elementary; Anne Smith, Bookkepper at Pinehurst Elementary School; and John Nevin Moulton, a senior at Union Pines High School.
• Viewed a presentation highlighting the work MCS' STEM Team, a group of teachers working to enhance education in science, technology, engineering, and math, utilizing a three-year $2 million STEM Infusion Grant from the Mebane Foundation. The team has established a website at www.mcsstem.org that provides STEM lesson plans that can be used by MCS teachers, as well as teachers from across the US.
• Viewed a presentation assembled by Superintendent Dr. Aaron Spence that highlighted to beginning of school for students on the traditional calendar.
• Recognized New Century Middle School Principal Robin Calcutt, recipient of the Superintendent's Salute to Greatness award.
• Approved on first reading eleven changes to MCS policy that Policy Committee Chair Bruce Cunningham said were largely aimed at bringing MCS policies in line with new legislation passed by the NC General Assembly.
