With extra county funding unlikely, board will ask state legislators to OK furloughs to save teachers’ jobs.

By ANN DOSS HELMS
The Charlotte Observer

After rejecting pay cuts and school closings, the Charlotte-Mecklenburg school board Tuesday pinned its 2010-11 budget-cutting hopes on the state legislature, hoping to get permission to furlough employees and tinker with the school calendar.

The drastic measures discussed at the budget meeting would be on top of – or possibly instead of – the 600 teacher layoffs the board authorized last week.

Superintendent Peter Gorman said the budget he’ll present April 13 will ask county commissioners to boost the $317 million they gave the district this year by $16 million, to cover the costs of inflation, enrollment growth and opening two new high schools. But he said it will include options for cutting up to $80 million in state and local money.

In the unlikely event the county grants Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools the increase and the state imposes no cuts beyond the $7.5 million already approved, no teachers would lose their jobs. In that best-case plan, Gorman would still pursue the administrative cuts he launched this week.

FEWER REGIONAL ZONES

Gorman announced Tuesday he’s shrinking the number of satellite administrative offices from seven to five, eliminating 35 jobs and saving $3.6million. The “achievement zone” he created in 2007 to boost performance at struggling high-poverty schools will disappear. The six regional offices will be rearranged into five: northeast, east, southwest, and two in a large central zone, one covering elementary schools and one covering middle and high schools.

If the current worst-case projections prove true, CMS will move ahead with the teacher layoffs, cut more than 200 other jobs and need to find about $7 million more in cuts.

Board member Trent Merchant voiced frustration that the board made little progress planning for those extra cuts.

He noted that the meeting was scheduled for 3 to 5 p.m.: “It’s 5:04 and we are not one penny closer.”

Last week, three of the nine board members voted to explore across-the-board pay cuts of up to 10 percent to avert layoffs. Tuesday, officials said the board has the legal ability to cut pay, but hundreds of employees would fall below state-mandated minimums. That option was dropped.

GORMAN: PLAN FOR 2011 CLOSINGS

Gorman said it wouldn’t be practical to close schools in 2010 or delay the August opening of Rocky River and Hough high schools. But he urged the board to begin preparing for closings in 2011-12.

“It will be long, it will be arduous and it will be very difficult,” he said.

The most popular option was a furlough, perhaps at the end of the school year, after state exams. That would require action by the state legislature, which doesn’t convene until mid-May. Local school boards lack authority to furlough employees, and cutting school days would require revising the state calendar law.

Board members wrangled over whether to eliminate CMS-TV, which would save about $400,000. Kaye McGarry called it “an easier choice than some other choices we’ll have to make,” but others argued that there’s value in taping board meetings and airing CMS information. They delayed a decision, asking Chair Eric Davis to meet with city and county officials to explore merging the TV operations.

The board plans to eliminate about $1.3 million it now spends on middle school sports. But Joe White and Tim Morgan said they believe athletics director Vicki Hamilton will find some combination of sponsorships and admission and participation fees to keep a scaled-back program alive.

If middle school sports disappear, CMS can save an additional $1.6 million by moving Piedmont, Smith, Davis and Davidson IB to a later schedule, taking some buses off the road, Chief Financial Officer Sheila Shirley said.

Board members voiced frustration over a WBTV report Monday saying the board might close Independence and North Meck high schools to help fill new schools nearby. (See DavidsonNews.net’s Tuesday report on Monday’s meeting in Cornelius with CMS District 1 rep Rhonda Lennon, “Lennon wants to close ‘underutilized’ schools.”)

Board members told The Observer on Monday that had been discussed behind closed doors but quickly rejected. It was not presented as an option for discussion Tuesday.

This story from The Charlotte Observer appears on DavidsonNews.net as part of our local news partnership.