City school board calls budget “devastating”
The picture painted of the budget for the 2010-2011 fiscal school year at Thursday’s meeting of the Russellville City School Board was much leaner than it has been in recent years.
RCS Chief Finance Officer Lisa Witt said the budget for this year would be about $24 million.
State funding for this school year is down about 8 percent, but federal funding is up. Even though this seems to be good news, the increase in federal funding is due to federal programs that will run out by the end of the school year.
In terms of dollar amounts, this means the schools will lose $1.6 million in federal funding.
This is grim news considering the federal money supplied to the school system provides 78 jobs.
Witt did express how beneficial the one-cent sales tax increase that passed in June has been and will continue to be for the school system because the average revenue the schools receive from the tax is $70,000 per month.
However, the local funding will have to come a long way to make up for the lack of funding at the state and federal levels, officials said.
“We will have to make tremendous cuts in 2010 unless we receive more state and federal funding,” Superintendent Don Cox said. “It will be the most devastating budget we’ve seen.”
Witt went on to point out that even though the budget looks grim, they must still provide the best they can for students.
“The children are our biggest priority,” Witt said, “and we want to do all that we can for them.”
One thing the school board approved was taking on the responsibility of a transportation system for RCS.
Up until this point, RCS shared the transportation system and the transportation building, more commonly known as the “bus barn,” with the Franklin County School System. But the board has decided that it is now time for RCS to shoulder their part of the responsibility.
“The Franklin County School System has its own money troubles just like we have,” Witt said, “and this is something that just needs to be done.”
Plans are in motion to begin construction on the new transportation building this year so that it will be ready by the 2011-2012 school year.
Initial costs for the building is budgeted at $300,000.
In other business, the board approved the following items:
• Fifth Grade Gifted Enrichment class field trip to Washington, D.C. in May 2011
• Revised handbooks for each school
• Updated liability coverage through the Alabama Association of School Boards’ Risk Management Program
• Purchase of online software designed to assist students who have not passed the Alabama High School Graduation Exam
• Continued employment of the part-time Truancy Officer working with the Franklin County Early Warning Program, the part-time Resource Officer and the part-time At-Risk teachers at RMS and RHS
• Sick leave days restored to Josephine Bonner, CNP worker
• Employment of Lillya Fretwell, CNP worker at RHS, and Shae Mansell, CNP worker at WES, both effective October 1, 2010
• Employment of Paige Bendall, Assistant Project Director (part-time) effective September 13, 2010
• Temporary employment of Tiffany Terry, math teacher at RHS
• Approval of Mindy Hardy, Shirley McSpadden and Mimi Wood as substitute teachers for the school system
