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GREENSBORO — After months of dire predictions, school districts finally have a state budget to work with.

Local schools officials were short on details this week, but it’s likely that at a meeting Tuesday, school board members will roll back some of the cuts they’ve made to the 2009-10 budget.

“By Tuesday night, we certainly will not be in a position to finalize the budget,” said school board Chairman Alan Duncan.

However, he did say the school board likely will be able to make some decisions that immediately will have an impact on schools, such as returning much of their funding.

The board also could approve more hiring, he said.

Duncan said the board could finalize a budget by the end of the month if school officials receive the information they need from the state Department of Public Instruction over the next several days.

The school board has approved more than $30 million in budget cuts to a $651.8 million budget proposed by Superintendent Maurice “Mo” Green in April.

As the governor, then the Senate and the House worked on budget proposals, it became clear the school system would receive less in state funding than in previous years. The state budget makes up about 75 percent of the school system’s budget.

Highlights of those budget reductions include:

-- 316 teaching positions cut. Many were vacant positions; school officials say they have placed all but one teacher in other jobs within the district.

-- 134 interim teachers without contracts. These contracts are renewed on year-to-year basis. Most are retired, but rehired, teachers. Schools officials say they are optimistic about finding positions for these teachers.

-- 111 support personnel positions cut. Those include 64 assistant librarians. Some were placed in other positions within the school system.

-- 17 administrative positions cut.

-- Most school budgets reduced by half. Principals use this money to purchase supplies and pay for some teachers. The bulk of the teacher cuts mentioned above are because of this.

-- Bus stops consolidated. Kids would be required to walk up to a half-mile in some cases to wait for the bus at a central location in the neighborhood. Buses were making stops at individual houses in some places.

Green declined Thursday to say how he might recommend reallocating money between schools and administration.
He did say he would like to return some funding to the administrative level.

“Let’s return resources to schools first, and then, if there are some dollars left, let’s look at central office,” he said.

Duncan agreed, saying some administrative offices are stretched too thin.

“We were not over-staffed administratively the way some people like to think we were,” he said.

It isn’t clear what teaching positions might be returned.

Hiring continues despite the cuts. As of Thursday, the school system has hired 96 new teachers and still has 66 vacancies left to fill.

School board members reached Friday for comment were generally more optimistic about the budget than they have been in recent weeks, though some were not happy with how lawmakers completed the state budget.

“The school system will fare far better than we planned for,” said board member Garth Hebert. “As a taxpayer, I’m not happy about it.”

Hebert said increased taxes are going to be hard on business owners, but he said his priority will be returning all the funding he can to schools.

“Get it in front of the kids and make it effective in front of the kids,” he said.

As for rolling back some of the administrative cuts, Hebert said that if the school system can live without those positions, then they should stay cut.

Board member Paul Daniels agreed, saying principals need to have as much autonomy as possible with the funding.
“These principals know what’s best for their schools,” he said.

Daniels said the board also should look at returning funding to programs that pay for teacher education. He noted some teachers now must pay tuition the school system had said it would pay for.

Regardless of where the money goes, many parents don’t expect business as usual when classes start on Aug. 25 for traditional schools.

Toni Jones, president of the Guilford County Council of PTAs, said parents expect the need for school supplies to be greater than ever.

“We always have to step up and fill the gap where the schools system doesn’t,” she said. “Of course, it’s going to be harder this year because so many parents are out of work.”

Jones spent Friday preparing for a PTA council retreat today. She said the budget impact on schools likely would be a heavily discussed item during that meeting.

Contact J. Brian Ewing at 373-7351 or brian.ewing@news-record.com