Friday, March 16, 2012 — Several ideas have been proposed as ways to balance the 2012-2013 budget for Stanly County Schools, the first of which was the closing of Ridgecrest Elementary School. This decision is estimated to save the school system nearly $624,000, though approximately 17 positions are expected to be cut as a result of the decision.

According to Carrie Cox, finance director for Stanly County Schools, the school system is projected to see a reduction in the 2012-2013 budget by more than $3.1 million. As a way to balance the budget and provide for this expected reduction, Cox recently made proposals of cost cutting ideas to the facilities and finance committees.

The committees then ranked the ideas in order of the most important, with closing Ridgecrest School at the top. Cox reviewed the results of the rankings during the committees’ meeting Tuesday night.

The second-ranked proposal is to offer retirement incentives to 66 certified and non-certified employees who are are eligible for retirement. According to Cox, this proposal could save the school system more than $786,000.

“That savings is based on all 66 employees accepting the retirement incentives and all but 12 positions being replaced,” Cox said.

Through the following proposals, Cox estimates that that school system could save nearly $2.7 million. These proposals, which are listed in the ranked order, include:

Increasing the billable amount from 50 cents per mile for outside of the county mileage to $2 per mile for outside of the county mileage to $2 per mile for all activity bus mileage, which is estimated to save $250,000;

Increasing the billable amount to $54.43 plus excess use for school cellular service for 28 lines for an estimated savings of $12,691;

Reducing 10 percent of school allocation used for field trips, supplies and materials, which could save the school system an estimated $67,000;

Adjusting the number of security officers per athletic event that are paid by the school system for an estimated savings of $28,600;

Reducing school allocations for athletics, band or art, music and physical eduction by 10 percent, which could save approximately $7,690;

Eliminating 100 percent of North Carolina Junior Engineering and Technology Society (NCJETS) funding for a savings of $8,400;

Reducing employee mileage reimbursement except for those required by contract, which could save approximately $90,000;

Reducing an additional 10 percent of school allocations for field trips, supplies and materials, for an additional savings of $67,000;

Reducing an additional 10 percent of school allocations for athletics, band or art, music and physical eduction, for an additional savings of $7,690;

Reducing an additional 30 percent for a total of 50 percent of allocations for athletics, band or art, music and physical education, for an additional savings of $23,070;

Reducing 5 to 10 percent of supplemental pay for principals, assistant principals and teachers resulting in a .5 percent reduction in their annual salary. This proposal is projected to save the school system $174,000;

Reducing the annual salary for the superintendent, associate superintendent and directors, resulting in a .5 percent reduction in annual salary for a proposed savings of $5,710;

Reducing an additional 10 to 15 percent of supplemental pay for principals, assistant principals, and teachers, resulting in a 1.4 percent average reduction to the annual salary, which is expected to save $261,000;

Reducing the annual salary for the superintendent, associate superintendent and directors for a cumulative 1.4 percent reduction in annual salary, resulting in an estimated savings of $10,280;

Adjusting the athletic coach supplemental schedule, which could result in $63,820 in savings; and

Increasing hours for regular teacher assistant from seven and 1/2 to eight hours and pay only for student days, which is estimated to save $193,200.

With more than $426,000 that would still need to be cut based on the estimated reduction in funding, Cox presented the committees with several more proposals.

Eight of the proposals were already presented to the committee during a previous meeting, but were not included in the projected savings. Four of these were to increase the number of retirement positions that would not be filled by five per proposal, for a cumulative reduction of 32 positions. Each of these four proposals could save the school system $278,500 for a total of $1.1 million.

The other four proposals presented different options for pay for teacher assistants by reducing their hours from seven and 1/2 to either seven or six hours, and determining if the assistants would be paid for only student days or for teacher work days, as well.

By reducing their hours to six and paying them for only student days, the school system could save $626,640, while only reducing their hours to six would save the system $482,160. If the hours for teacher assistants were reduced to seven and they were only paid for students days, the school system could save $409,920, while only reducing their hours to seven would save $241,080.

An additional seven proposals were added during Tuesday’s meeting, which could save the school system approximately $246,000. They include:

Eliminating field maintenance supplements for spring, summer and fall, for a savings of $10,800;

Implementing an automated power management system to turn off computers when they are not in use in the evening. This proposal could save $101,200;

Implementing a small appliance policy to restrict all small refrigerators, coffee makers, space heaters, microwaves and toaster ovens to the common areas, for a projected savings of $47,000 based on a reduction in energy usage;

Implementing a vending machine policy to reduce, limit or restrict vending machines at school sites, which could save the system $40,000 based on the cost to operate the machines;

Reducing the number of school resource officers in Albemarle from three to two positions, for a savings of $30,000. This proposal would eliminate the officer position at Central and East elementary schools, though a plan is in the works for officers to provide a presence at the schools;

Upgrading the voice over Internet protocol (VOIP) system to an outside vendor, which would eliminate maintenance costs and could save approximately $17,000; and

Paying non-certified employees in accordance with the state salary ranges, though the exact savings for this proposal has not been determined at this time.

According to Cox, all of these proposals are just that. They are suggestions, which are being reviewed by the finance committee before being presented to the Stanly County School Board. A date for when the proposals will be presented to the board has not been scheduled at this time.