Orange County schools suffer from dried-up funding

As local and state officials gear up for a third year of heavy budget cuts, many are concerned about what the reductions will mean for academics, staff and the future of N.C. education.

Orange County Schools alone is projected to lose as much as $7.7 million next year, the combined effect of dried-up stimulus funds and a shrinking state budget.

School board members and district leaders will meet Friday to jump-start the budget drafting process, which will continue until the document is presented to the Board of Orange County Commissioners in the spring.

They’re charged with addressing the funding shortfall and streamlining expenditures without compromising quality of instruction, a task that may be easier said than done.

‘Tough choices’

The inaugural budget work session comes earlier than most years, a consequence of the grave financial situation officials are facing, said school board member Debbie Piscitelli.

School board members will receive information from Superintendent Patrick Rhodes, Finance Director Donna Brinkley and other district officials on the most up-to-date projections of possible areas and impacts of reduction.

No firm decisions will be made at the meeting, Piscitelli said.

“I think tomorrow (Rhodes) is creating the picture, what it looks like,” she said. “We need to start giving him direction.”

District spokesman Michael Gilbert said the system will see an 18 percent reduction in overall state and federal funding, though it’s too soon to tell where cuts will come from.

“It’s way too early for that,” he said. “I think it’s safe to say there’s going to be cuts across areas.”

Gilbert said over the last two years, the district received more than $3.3 million in stimulus money, which was designated to fund programs for disadvantaged students, expansion of pre-kindergarten classes and positions like substitute teachers and custodians.

Anticipating further reductions, district officials opted to hold some of the stimulus money to help soften the blow, Gilbert said.

But Chuck Nolan, the parent of a first-grade student at Hillsborough Elementary School and the principal of Middle College High School in Durham, said he’s still concerned about what possible cuts might mean for his children.

He and his wife will also have a child entering kindergarten next year.

“They have some tough choices they’re going to have to make pretty soon,” Nolan said. “I’m sure they’ve trimmed as much fat as they could outside the classroom, and now they might have to go to the classroom.

“I’m concerned about that,” he said. “What’s her kindergarten class going to look like?”

‘Cut to the bone’

School board member Stephen Halkiotis said the challenge of reducing an already strained budget is not limited to Orange County Schools.

Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools stands to lose about $13.5 million next year, and districts across the state are left with a similarly grim outlook.

“I think we’re going to be facing perhaps the biggest challenge that the local school system and systems across the state have ever faced in their history,” Halkiotis said.

The Office of State Budget and Management is requiring all government agencies — including the Department of Public Instruction — to identify budget cuts at both the 5 percent and 10 percent levels, according to a Nov. 22 statement.

These reductions add to a 4 percent cut required from the state’s public school budget, although North Carolina already ranks 42nd in the nation for the amount of money spent per student.

“We’ve already cut to the bone over the last two years,” Halkiotis said. “I don’t, quite frankly, know what we’re going to do other than fall to the bottom of the 50 states.”

The statement identifies eliminating teaching assistants for all grades except kindergarten and reducing services for gifted children by up to 10 percent to satisfy the cuts.

“Things that it took over 25 years to build up here in North Carolina, we seem to be losing in the last two to three years,” Halkiotis said. “It’s not a very optimistic picture that we’re having painted for us.”

Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu.