PETERSBURG -- As many as 46 positions, including 23 teachers, are on the chopping block as Petersburg schools look to close a $7.2 million shortfall.
Nearly one-third of those positions are unfilled, and school officials hope the remainder are vacated through attrition or retirement, Tracie L. Coleman, director of budget and finance, said last night.
School officials are trying to trim $7.2 million from a proposed $56.1 million budget. Cutting the 46 positions would save $2.6 million; nonpersonnel reductions such as not purchasing new equipment would save nearly $1 million, Coleman said.
Petersburg's current school budget is $55.8 million.
The city's much-maligned school system made strides last year in student achievement as four of seven schools earned full accreditation and made Adequate Yearly Progress under the federal No Child Left Behind Act.
Some community members expressed concerns in a public hearing last night that budget reductions would take the students backward.
"I know we are facing budget challenges, but we cannot afford to balance the budget on the backs of students. Do not cut our teachers, our principals or school security," Derrick Williams said. "The last thing we need to do is slow down improvements in children's education."
John Hart, president of the citywide PTA, wondered whether a plan was in place to address potential behavior problems because of larger class sizes.
Petersburg Mayor Annie Mickens read a resolution adopted Tuesday by the City Council that is being submitted to the General Assembly in support of freezing the local composite index as proposed by then-Gov. Timothy M. Kaine.
Gov. Bob McDonnell said this month that he will support updating the index that determines how much state money each school system receives.
If the composite index changes, it would cost Petersburg an additional $728,893 in state aid.
Mickens implored residents to go beyond talking to local officials and contact state legislators in Richmond to tell them about their concerns over losses in state funding.
"We are not the ones making the decision that affects how the money is flowing," Mickens said. "We are the ones that are trying to stabilize what the decisions are doing, that are made by people sitting in bodies, that have no idea how those decisions affect you.
"You need to talk to those people who are making those decisions. These are not normal times; we cannot deal with it in normal ways."
Contact Jeremy Slayton at (804) 649-6861 or jslayton@timesdispatch.com.
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