RALEIGH -- Wake County schools will have to find additional budget cuts in the range of $20 million, affecting everything from 70 janitorial positions to driver education programs, based on reductions under the recently passed state budget.
Chief business officer David Neter made the announcement while discussing the additional cuts that will be necessary for the 143,000-student system. The exact amount won't be known until the county receives its per-pupil allotments from the state, Neter said.
Among the changes, custodial services will be cut by more than $5 million this school year and transportation costs by more than $1 million, school board members have just learned.
"It's vacuuming less often, it's sweeping less often," said chief operating office Don Haydon.
The change will not affect the cleanliness of surfaces that students touch, Haydon said.
Board members including Dr. Anne McLaurin and Debra Goldman said reducing custodial services could pose health problems for students.
The state also cut $12.4 million in discretionary funds, which can be offset for this year only by federal grants of $28 million.
The driver education program will take a $493,000 cut, which may require a $45 per-student fee for the program to offset that reduction.
According to Neter, the custodial staff will be reduced by 70 positions and contracts by 35 percent. The savings from the in-house and contract reductions will be $2,478.490 each. Additional savings of $200,000 brings the total reductions to $5,156,980.
On the positive side, Neter said, each elementary school will receive one additional teacher for Grades 1-3 and the state will supply an additional $170,000 in funding for academically gifted programs.
Overall the cut in state contribution to Wake schools will be closer to 6 percent than the 5 percent reduction budget planners used in crafting the $1.2 billion county school budget.
The central office will have to cut an additional $800,000.
