GEORGETOWN, S.C. — The Georgetown County School District is facing a $5 million shortfall because of recent budget cuts announced by the state.
Superintendent Dr. Randy Dozier said he will make recommendations to the school board on ways to help make up the loss on Jan. 19 and, he said, almost nothing is off the table.
Last week, the State Budget and Control Board announced 5 percent across-the-board budget cuts in order to keep the $5 billion spending plan balanced.
The cuts are necessary because of high unemployment and slow tax collections in the state.
Dozier said the cut to the county — coupled with a four percent cut from the state this past September — equates to about $3 million.
He said he spent time Thursday meeting with an out-of-district financial advisor about how to deal with the cut.
“We have been dealing with this for the past few years and we have made cuts in a lot of areas,” he said.
He said he is already looking at ways to save on energy.
“Bill Crompton (the district’s building supervisor) has found ways to save about $15,000 a year on our natural gas bill.
“While that may seem like a lot of money, it’s not. Unfortunately, you have to look at people and benefits and things like overtime, which is a fairly large expense,” Dozier said.
Dozier said more furloughs and possible layoffs are not being ruled out at this point.
One thing, he said, that is off the table is an increase in class size.
“I do not want to do that,” he said.
There may not be as strong of a push on teacher recruitment this year, Dozier said.
The shortfall is too large to try to make it up by taking money from reserves, he said.
“We are also looking at grant opportunities,” he said.
By Scott Harper
sharper@gtowntimes.com
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Posted by: On: Thursday, December 31, 2009 9:36 AM
Comment Title:
To the poster whos husband was illegal. If the person was an illegal alien he should have been deported, not forced to pay taxes or allowed to "finish" paperwork. Sorry but it is called illegal for a reason.
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Posted by: On: Tuesday, December 29, 2009 9:46 PM
Comment Title: Buget Cuts
Times are hard, jobs are few and far...
Cut salaries for top officials at the district office. That would save some teachers and teacher assistants jobs.
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Posted by: On: Wednesday, December 23, 2009 9:27 AM
Comment Title:
"Also, we seem to have quite a few children that are illegal or are the children of illegals...they don't pay taxes so we should not be paying to educate them."
That's a great idea! Then we'll have a bunch of "dumb" illegals running around. They're going to be here regardless...And you don't know that they don't pay taxes. Many illegals pay taxes. My husband was illegal for over 3 years while in the process of completing his legal residency petitions...during that time he had a federal tax ID number and paid taxes just like you do. Now keep in mind, even though he paid taxes, he wasn't eligible for all the things that normal tax payers are eligible for...maybe my "illegal" husband paid to educate your child....
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Posted by: Jamie Sanderson On: Tuesday, December 22, 2009 12:38 PM
Comment Title:
"slow tax collections in the state" - obviously.
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Posted by: On: Sunday, December 20, 2009 9:53 PM
Comment Title:
A suggestion to help make the new budget balance would be to cut it from sports programs. Yes sports are nice but the equipment, transportation, and such cost quite a bit and personally I think their regular education is more important then their sports education. This school system is already severely lacking in the education department, so cut back on the sports and concentrate on learning. Also, we seem to have quite a few children that are illegal or are the children of illegals...they don't pay taxes so we should not be paying to educate them.
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