Hinton: Unfunded education costs can be cut

The Franklin County School Board emphasized the wrong budget reduction items at the June 23 board meeting. Unfunded extracurricular activities seemed to be more important than the funded curriculum. And so, while the board remains a sound functioning body, well trained by the Master Board program and illustrated by numerous unanimous decisions, I was forced to vote against a majority of my colleagues when it came to possible budget reduction strategies for the next school year.

Last November I asked the superintendent to form a budget reduction committee which would make recommendations to the board. The committee met several times and formulated several suggestions, with some, but not all, presented to the board for approval at the June 23 special meeting. I was disappointed that all were not presented and recommended.

One item discussed early on was transportation costs, where it was shown our transportation costs were approximately $700,000 per year, with the state only providing about $350,000 in funding. The difference is paid out of the general fund. This meant that we were greatly exceeding costs in the area of transportation that the state expects of us. The committee decided that cuts in that area were mandatory, and recommended all unfunded use of buses should be eliminated. This included things such as field trips, the voluntary pre-Kindergarten bus and the after-school activity bus.

The committee recognized that since approximately 80 percent of the general fund budget is due to personnel costs, this area had to be a major part of the reduction. Since the board had worked diligently the past several years to maximize salaries, it was decided to minimize salary cuts. It was shown that a change in teacher strategies and changing from a seven-period to a six-period day could reduce staffing, and result a major cost reduction.

The loss of personnel would be covered by attrition, resulting in no layoffs. The downside of this would be a 17 percent reduction in course options available in the curriculum. Other areas of personnel cost reductions included elimination or reduction in step increase, travel, professional development, dental coverage, unpaid furloughs, supplements and medical benefits.

Another area we discussed was the reduction in extracurricular activities, since in most cases these were funded indirectly from the general fund. It was suggested that the number of athletic games should be reduced. Playing games during daylight hours and reducing the distance traveled for away games were also recommended.

At the June 23 meeting most of the recommended costs that had a direct influence on personnel and the curriculum were presented to the board and were approved. However, none of the extracurricular costs were recommended or approved by the board. This I felt was wrong. By the reduction of income and benefits of our employees, they would be paying for those unfunded extracurricular costs.

An area of major concern to me was the activity bus, an unfunded “extra” that no other district provides that I am aware. If the activity bus is deemed important by the users, they should pay for the expenses, the same as is done by those using buses for curricular activities such as field trips. I was told by one individual that if the activity bus was omitted, we would lose athletes to Port St.  Joe. I didn't know Port St. Joe was providing an activity bus to Franklin County.

Bottom line, all unfunded costs should be eliminated or reduced. Otherwise, the school district employees will pay for them from their salaries. Seventeen percent of the curriculum was cut, it is only reasonable to cut a portion of the extracurricular activities.

David Hinton is a member of the Franklin County School Board.