Much of Saturday’s meeting was occupied with economics, especially in light of a second year of proration. Last year, due to tax shortfalls, school system budgets were cut 11 percent, which translates to a loss of almost $5 million for the Talladega County School System. Projected proration for this year is 7.5 percent, or $3 million, according to Superintendent Suzanne Lacey.
“It’s very difficult to make cuts when you’ve got very few local teacher units and no overabundance of support staff, like we do,” she said.
The system stands to lose 6.4 teacher units if the governor’s budget proposal passes the Legislature, “which is bad,” Lacey said, “but not nearly as bad as 47 we would lose under level funding.”
State law requires school systems to keep at least one month of operating revenues in reserve, which for the county system comes to about $5 million. The board was at about 80 percent, but still needed an extra $900,000 last year when a second round of proration was announced. The board was able to stay above the minimum by correcting a $325,000 coding error and by using grant funds to cover debt service. The board was also able to secure a $5 million line of credit through First National Bank in Talladega to cover any future emergencies.
Although options for budget cutting are limited, Lacy, comptroller Avery Embry and other staff members were able to cut out about $4 million from the fiscal 2009 budget and $2.3 million from the current budget by eliminating some programs or changing the funding sources for them.
Much of the additional funding, aside from state money, comes from grants, including $160,000 for technology upgrades in Lincoln and a work force development grant at Winterboro. Stimulus money paid 82 percent of a $1.2 million upgrade of computer routers and wireless switches and has been awarded a $200,000 grant with a 17 percent local match to upgrade computer servers. The Alabama Department of Economic and Commercial Affairs recently awarded the board $765,000 to improve energy efficiency at Comer and Childersburg, the largest grant awarded to a system in this program in the state, according to School System operations manager Dan Payant.
Payant also pointed out that building projects in Lincoln and Munford are being paid for using locally approved special tax money, not board funds.
The goal, he said, it to make every school in the system Energy Star rated. Currently there are only four such schools in the state.
This grant also uses stimulus money, and comes with a requirement that all equipment purchased must be made in the United States.
The other major topic of discussion Saturday was the successful debut of Project Based Learning at Winterboro and other cutting edge, 21st century teaching methods.
These include “partnerships, increased participation, use of technology, connecting various subjects to each other and giving students the freedom and courage to interact with each other in a managed and controlled environment,” according to Lacey, who demonstrated these ideas with several videos taken at county elementary schools. The classrooms shown were almost entirely paperless.
Pacing guides and catering to different types of learners were also emphasized.
The project based classroom in Winterboro will provide the blueprint for a model classroom placed in each of the system’s high schools. Teachers are currently applying to be trained to use the new classrooms.
Also during the meeting, the board:
• Was informed that B.B. Comer and Winterboro High School had been named Bronze Medal winners in a national survey by U.S. News and World Report.
• Heard Lacey announce that defibrillators had been installed at all county schools.
• Heard Payant announce that surveillance cameras had been installed at all county high schools and on 65 new buses.
• Agreed to let a severely damaged house on the grounds of Winterboro be used by the local volunteer fire department for training. This item will be put to a vote Tuesday.
• Got a draft of next school year’s calendar.
• Received information on charter schools.
• Agreed to amend the policy to require board member training throughout the term, in line with state guidelines.
• Discussed temporarily reducing tuition costs and providing an additional discount for more than one student from the same household.
• Agreed to begin requiring background checks and some training for volunteer coaches.
• Announced that enrolment this year was down by 77 students over last year, but that unexcused absences had dropped from 947 year-to-date last year to 809 year-to-date. Lacey credited the efforts of Juvenile Court Judge Ryan Rumsey, Kelvin Cunningham and interventionists and counselors all working together.
• Heard Lacey announce that brochures showcasing all the schools in the system were forthcoming. The one for Winterboro has already been completed.
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