Families, teachers wait to see where school budget cuts will fall

After enduring a year of hotter and dirtier schools, Wake County families and school employees are waiting to find out the impact of the next round of budget cuts.

To cut the budget last year, school leaders decided to have schools cleaned less often and make temperatures warmer in the summer and colder in the winter. Now administrators will work on a new set of budget cuts after the the Wake County Board of Commissioners provided less than half of a requested $45.2 million budget increase.

The school system’s $24.2 million shortfall could rise depending on the state budget. Initial versions of this year’s state budget shifted some items from state funding to local dollars.

School board Chairwoman Monika Johnson-Hostler said commissioners threw the school district a “curve ball” Monday. She said all options are on the table for closing the budget gap.

“Even though we’re talking a lot about what the impact might be, which is still completely unknown to us, we do know that there will be an impact,” Johnson-Hostler said at Tuesday’s school board meeting. “Our eyes are still on the prize, which is our kids, our students.”

In the meantime, the school board passed an interim budget resolution Tuesday to keep the district running when the new fiscal year starts in July. The summer will be spent figuring out how to adjust the district’s $1.6 billion operating budget plan.

County Manager Jim Hartmann had suggested that the school board use $21 million in potential unspent local funds to help balance the budget. School board members defended their finance staff Tuesday, questioning how county officials had come up with their numbers.

School board members complained about a lack of trust they say commissioners have in how the district spends money. Both boards have Democratic majorities.

“I am discouraged that this climate of mistrust continues,” said school board member Kathy Hartenstine. “There can’t be substantial progress until the relationship between the county commissioners and the Board of Education is founded in trust.”

School board member Jim Martin suggested bringing in a third-party mediator to look at the district’s numbers to make sure they’re accurate if it would help build trust.

This year’s budget situation is playing like a repeat of last year, when the school board got $23.9 million of a requested $35.7 million increase from commissioners. When combined with the impact of the state budget, the school board approved a series of cuts to close a $17.5 million shortfall.

School leaders said last year’s cuts were needed, but County Commissioner Erv Portman disagreed.

“All of the money to pay for the temperature in the classrooms from the prior year was still there, and an increase,” Portman said at a budget work session last week. “All of the money for janitorial from the prior year was still there, and an increase. It wasn’t as much of an increase as they had asked.”

This year, the school board asked for a record $45.2 million increase to hire more counselors and social workers, increase pay for bus drivers, keep up with growth, offer new magnet school themes and expand the Office of Equity Affairs.

Commissioners voted Monday to provide a $21 million increase with the majority saying they wanted to limit the size of this year’s property tax increase, which will cost the average homeowner $39 more a year. Commissioners also pointed to how they’ve increased school funding by 30 percent since Democrats took over after the 2014 election.

School board members raised concerns Tuesday about how this year’s funding from the county will affect the district’s ability to educate all students, particularly those who need the most help.

“I’m really concerned about the financial impact and where are we going to be able to best serve the learning of the children that we have in our system and what the side effect will be,” Hartenstine said.

As part of the budget vote, commissioners called for greater cooperation and planning with the school board on future school budgets, including having joint quarterly meetings of both boards.

Several commissioners blamed lack of support from state lawmakers for the budget situation this year. But Martin, who has been a frequent critic of state lawmakers, said county funding had only caught up to 2010 levels based on growth and inflation.

“I am not here to say that our county has not supported us,” Martin said. “I am just here to say we cannot put the blame on the state when we look at our own house and our own house is now only finally meeting growth plus inflation to 2010 and we have not met growth plus inflation pre-recession.”

This story was originally published June 20, 2017 at 7:08 PM with the headline "Families, teachers wait to see where school budget cuts will fall."