Without federal stimulus funds, the Union County School District will have to reduce spending by $3.8 million to balance its projected 2009-2010 budget, finance director Lynn Lawson says.

The ongoing downturn in the economy has forced the State Budget and Control Board to repeatedly slash funding for K-12 education over the past year. In March, Lawson told the Union County Board of Trustees that the latest round of cuts by the board had caused revenues to fall below that of the previous budget year.

On Monday, Lawson told the board that the ongoing cuts in revenues for fiscal 2009-2010 are projected to total only $27,008,791. Lawson said this was based on the Education Finance Act (EFA) program not receiving $185 million in federal stimulus funds. The EFA provides funding on a per-pupil basis for district operations. Without the stimulus funds, the district’s EFA funding for 2009-2010 would be only $2,034 per pupil.

Lawson said the 2008-2009 budget totaled $30,819,976 in expenditures. Using this as a baseline for the 2009-2010 budget, Lawson said the district would have to reduce expenditures by more than $3.8 million to balance the budget.

District staff has been working over the past several months to reduce expenditures in light of the cuts in state funding. Lawson said staff has more recently been working to reduce expenditures for fiscal 2009-2010 to bring them in line with revenue projections. He said staff has already identified over $1 million in reductions in non-payroll expenditures.

With the stimulus funding, the district’s EFA funding would be $2,334 per pupil.

Headstart

The Headstart Program could soon be operating out of Jonesville Elementary School.

The board voted unanimously to authorize the district administration to negotiate an agreement allowing Carolina Community Action (CCA) to lease the school for use by the Headstart program. At the end of the current school year, Jonesville Elementary students, teachers and staff will transferred to the new Jonesville Elementary/Middle K-8 School being built at the corner of U.S. 176 and New Hope Church Road.

Executive director Walter Kellogg said the CCA is interested in leasing the school because it hopes to expand the Headstart program to provide additional services for more children. Kellogg said the school would provide the additional classroom and other space required for the proposed expansion.

Linne Miller, program director, told the board that Headstart serves 114 children at the Carlsan facility and 40 through Jonesville Elementary. All of these children would be attending Headstart at the school if a lease agreement is secured.

Ms. Miller said the program is trying to obtain a competitive grant to start an early Headstart program that would serve 48 children and expectant mothers. If Headstart is successful in obtaining the funds, Ms. Miller said it would hire an additional 14 staff members. The program already employs a staff of 21 including teachers, teaching assistants, cafeteria and custodial personnel.

In addition to classroom activities, Headstart will provide students with breakfast, lunch and a snack. It will also provide them with medical and dental care.