Schools quiet on targets of cuts

Shelli Snead, a first-year instructional aide at Reams Road Elementary School in Chesterfield County, is worried about her job.

"It's the best job I have ever had," she wrote in an e-mail. "But because I'm the 'low man on the totem pole,' I worry if I'll be back here next year. I already see the stress teachers are under, not having funds for basic things like supplies."

School officials would not give specifics yesterday on what might be cut, a day after Chesterfield Superintendent Marcus J. Newsome delivered the somber news that the school system is facing a $38.4 million reduction in funding next year.

Some positions will be eliminated, Newsome said. Employees also won't get the 1 percent raise next year included in the biennial budget adopted this year. The student-teacher ratio will increase across the board.

Beyond that, "we don't want to unnecessarily frighten anybody by saying that we're considering something if we ultimately are not going to consider it," schools spokesman Tim Bullis said.

Stella Y. Edwards, president of the Chesterfield County Council of PTAs, said PTA leaders and parents are suggesting cuts in administrative personnel, consolidation of bus routes, and widening sidewalks so students can walk to school.

"I really think we should lessen the impact in the classroom," she said. "The impact should be in other areas. We can't take away the support from the classroom."

Edwards said she would prefer for school officials to cut hours rather than resort to layoffs.

"To have someone cut off from work is really cutting the family off," she said. "There aren't many jobs around."

In the current year, the school system has had to cut $7 million to $8 million from the $594.5 million operating budget because of declining state and county revenue. Each school also saw a 20 percent cut from its current operating budget.

Several central services have been consolidated with the county government to achieve cost efficiencies, including purchasing, fleet management, grounds maintenance and warehousing, Bullis said.

Lois Stanton, president of the Chesterfield Education Association, said she is concerned about the outlook for the coming school year.

"I'm disappointed that it looks like there are going to be things, that are good for Chesterfield, that are on the table for cuts," she said. "One of the things they've already done is not filling a lot of positions."

Stanton said the education association has been talking with teachers about how school funding works and that some tough decisions will have to be made at all education levels.

"I'm still hanging on to the hope that [the cuts] won't happen," she said.

On Wednesday, Gov. Timothy M. Kaine is to release his proposed 2010 state budget, which is expected to be $3 billion short. About 570 state workers are expected to lose their jobs, and 870 positions would go unfilled.

The Chesterfield school system projects a $24.4 million reduction from the state and $14 million from the county.

"The cuts could be even more," depending on what Kaine proposes, Bullis said.

School administrators will be working through the winter break crunching budget numbers and will have a much better idea of the revenue shortfall in early January, Bullis said.

Newsome is expected to present his proposed 2009-10 budget to the School Board on Jan. 27.

The Superintendent's Budget Advisory Committee will meet through early January to make recommendations on cuts to address the shortfall.

Leanne Follis, a parent of a fourth-grader at Clover Hill Elementary School, said the funding shortfalls worry her because schools already are operating within very tight budgets.

"I would like to encourage school officials to keep parents informed of this process and to be open to the comments from the community," she said. "It will take a group effort to resolve this."