By ANN DOSS HELMS
The Charlotte Observer

Making Charlotte-Mecklenburg students pay for Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate exams would save $1.3 million the district now covers, giving the school board the chance to avert other budget cuts, Superintendent Peter Gorman said Friday.

With the school board slated to vote on a 2010-11 budget Tuesday, Mr. Gorman said he’s going to offer some new options, including additional administrative cuts, to prepare for state and county cuts that could total $78 million. The worst-case plan he’s presented calls for cutting about 600 teachers and 400 other jobs, and the new options won’t be big enough to replace layoffs.

Some teachers and other employees started getting notices this week, and more are expected in mid-May.

Mr. Gorman wouldn’t comment on what might be restored if the board accepts the new options. But Chief Operating Officer Hugh Hattabaugh told a group of Smith Language Academy parents Thursday that board members might reconsider shifting the hours of four magnet schools if they can find $1.6 million in other cuts.

During the past week, hundreds of parents at Smith and other magnets have rallied to oppose the new schedules and the elimination of neighborhood bus service, designed to trim $5 million from the cost of busing students to the specialized schools. The bulk of that would come from requiring students at 11 magnets to go to shuttle stops for pickup and drop-off.

“I don’t think there’s any way to back away from the shuttle stops,” Mr. Hattabaugh said.

[Among the parents speaking out about proposed changes were those at Davidson IB Middle School, who met with Mr. Hattabaugh at the school Wednesday night. See “Parents raise concerns over proposed IB school changes.”]

The current plan calls for Smith, Piedmont and Davidson International Baccalaureate middle schools and Davis Military/Leadership Academy to shift to later schedules, getting out as late as 4:30 p.m. That allows CMS to sideline about 40 buses, tacking those runs onto buses serving schools with earlier hours.

Board member Rhonda Lennon, whose District 1 includes north Mecklenburg, has been urging Mr. Gorman to look at shifting the cost of AP and IB exams to students.

CMS pays the fees to encourage students to tackle the college-level classes and take the tests that help them earn credit. Each AP exam costs $86, and some students take tests in several subjects. An IB diploma exam costs $135 plus $92 per subject.

Mr. Gorman said that adds up to “shockingly large dollars” district-wide. The state pays the fees for students who qualify for low-income lunch aid, so those students would not have to pay under the new proposal. The $1.3 million would come from stopping CMS payments for students who don’t qualify for help.

Mr. Gorman did not offer specifics about the administrative posts he might cut. He’ll suggest the option of scaling back contracts for a relatively small number of teachers who are in 12-month non-classroom posts; cutting back to 11 months would shave some money off their pay.

The board meets at 6 p.m. Tuesday at the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Government Center, 600 E. Fourth St. Brief public comments on any topic will be heard at the beginning; sign up on site or by calling 980-343-5139 by noon Tuesday.

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