BY PAMELA GOULD
Two members of the Spotsylvania School Board hope to find ways to avoid the superintendent's proposal to eliminate some freshman and middle school sports to balance next year's budget.
However, the board expressed little distress yesterday over the proposed elimination of the elementary level Spanish program for the coming school year.
Board member Ray Lora asked the school division
Board member Amanda Blalock agreed with that idea and asked for further study into keeping middle school sports.
She asked Superintendent Jerry Hill whether his staff had looked into a "pay-for-play" plan at the middle school level just as it is being considered at high schools where students may be asked to pay a $25 fee per activity next school year.
Hill said he had not considered a pay-for-play plan at middle schools but "anything is possible."
The School Board held an all-day work session yesterday at which members began a detailed look at Hill's budget proposal for fiscal 2011, which begins July 1.
A public hearing on the budget is scheduled for Monday at 6:30 p.m. at the start of the board's regular meeting.
Late yesterday, Hill received an opinion from the School Board's attorney that he could implement divisionwide daylong furloughs that would close all schools for a time as a cost-saving measure. That's not part of his current budget proposal.
Hill presented his fiscal 2011 budget proposal Tuesday night. His $216 million operating budget eliminates 131 positions. It includes $14.7 million in cuts, based on level funding from the county.
Yesterday, however, Hill said he expects additional cuts before a final budget is crafted.
"We most likely are going to be forced to cut more," Hill told the board. "It would be wonderful if we don't, but I think the chances are better than 50 percent that we will."
County Administrator Doug Barnes is expected to announce his county funding recommendations Feb. 2.
Of the 131 school positions being cut, 32 will be from people taking part in the division's early retirement program and 16.5 are currently vacant, said Chief Financial Officer LaShahn Gaines.
Board member Martin Wilder expressed disappointment over the loss of the elementary Spanish program because it had taken so much work to get it started and because of the intellectual benefits of learning a foreign language.
However, Lora, who noted that Spanish is his first language, said he supported the cut because he didn't feel the program had been successful.
"We haven't been getting our bang for the buck," Lora said. "This is the one cut I can support."
What Lora disliked was cutting the 17 positions associated with that program. He said he hoped those people would be able to shift to jobs elsewhere in the system.
Blalock also expressed concern about the number of special education positions slated for elimination. She asked staff for a full accounting of those positions before the board's next work session, scheduled for Friday.
Hill's Tuesday announcement included 15 special education cuts: nine paraprofessionals, four teachers and two diagnosticians.
Yesterday, the division also announced plans to phase out high school German, starting next year with German I.
"I hate to see us lose German, too," Wilder said. "We just recognized a German teacher as the best in the state."
But he then suggested it might be time to cut French as well and then, once the economy turns around, add different languages such as Chinese and Arabic.
Assistant Superintendent Edlow Barker said the goal is to cut classes with low enrollment to use staff efficiently. The expectation is that by eliminating German, the courses in French, Spanish and Latin will fill.
The secondary-schools director is reviewing enrollment in all secondary electives to try to determine where to cut 30 positions as called for in Hill's budget. That information isn't expected to be available until spring after students sign up for next year's classes.
Pam Gould: 540/735-1972
Email: pgould@freelancestar.com