By PAMELA GOULD
Before Spotsylvania School Superintendent Jerry Hill presents his proposed budget tomorrow night, he hopes to have notified every employee who would be impacted by the cuts he's suggesting.
Those cuts could be anything from the loss of a job, to reassignment because a program is targeted for elimination, to a reduction in pay as a position is changed from a 12-month to an 11-month contract, according to schools spokeswoman Sara Branner.
The goal is to contact "anybody whose position or salary is impacted" by Hill's proposal so that employees won't learn the news during the superintendent's televised presentation to the School Board at tomorrow's 6:30 p.m. meeting, Branner said.
But nothing will be certain until the School Board approves the budget, which is scheduled to happen Feb. 8.
Tomorrow night, after getting their first look at Hill's budget, board members will hold their first work session to begin evaluating it.
But even after the School Board reaches consensus on a plan, the Board of Supervisors and economic conditions could force further revisions. The entire budget process is expected to take nearly four months. The School Board is scheduled to adopt the budget for the 2010-11 school year on May 10.
Hill has been trying since last fall to prepare the board, employees and parents for what's coming.
He announced in November that there would be no pay increases because the budget would need to be cut by $3.2 million for 2010-11. But one week ago, Hill announced cuts had risen to the $14.2 million mark based on former Gov. Tim Kaine's proposed budget.
That deficit, Hill told employees and parents, meant it would be "impossible" to keep all positions in this year's budget.
That news echoed like a fire alarm in a school hallway.
"It's very, very grim, very stressful, a lot of uncertainty," Spotsylvania Education Association President Renee Beverly said of the mood in county school buildings.
Neither Hill nor Branner would say in advance how many people would be affected by the proposed cuts.
PAYROLL ISSUES
The school division employs 1,650 teachers and has 3,193 people on the payroll including administrators, nurses and bus drivers.
Salaries and benefits account for 87 percent of the annual operating budget, Hill has said.
His salary is not only the highest in the school division, but also tops the salaries of all other local-government managers in the region and is higher than that of the governor.
Hill is paid $175,500 and receives a total compensation package of $234,000.
Forty school division employees earn more than $100,00 per year, taking up $4.5 million of the payroll.
Another 97 employees assigned to the central administrative office earn salaries totaling $5.35 million.
The 2009-10 budget totals $271.6 million, which is $7.25 million less than the previous year's.
The board eliminated 136 positions from the payroll in the 2009-10 budget and, if Hill's predictions hold true, will need to cut more this round.
There were no layoffs in the 2009-10 budget because of attrition and an early retirement program the division instituted.
The retirement program runs for three years and required participants to sign up last year. The 230 employees who signed up receive a bonus of 20 percent of their pay for three years, in addition to their retirement.
The first 70 employees retired in June 2009. They had earned $4.72 million and were replaced by people earning $2.93 million, for a payroll reduction of about $1.78 million. However, the retirees' bonuses total $2.8 million over three years.
This year, 63 people will take part in the program. Their salaries total $3.9 million and their bonuses over three years total $2.3 million.
Hill and three of the division's assistant superintendents are among 97 people retiring in June 2011.
Those salaries total $6.6 million. Their bonuses total $3.9 million over three years.
Hill's bonus, based on his entire compensation package, totals $140,400.
Pamela Gould: 540/735-1972
Email: pgould@freelancestar.com