Governor Orders Education Cuts (AL)

May 17, 2011

Gov. Robert Bentley ordered an across-the-board cut of 3 percent in the state education budget Monday and announced he will cut most agencies in the state General Fund budget 15 percent after working with the Legislature to protect some essential services.

The 3 percent proration in education takes effect immediately.

According to DeKalb County Superintendent Charles Warren, that translates to a loss of about $1.4 million to the county system over the course of the system’s remaining year.

This comes on top of about $11 million in lost funding over the past few years due to budgetary cutbacks, and also – according to Warren – at a time when his and other systems are getting slammed by rising fuel and food costs.

"We’ve seen a tremendous spike in fuel costs, and we can’t get a firm bid on diesel fuel," Warren said. "We run thousands of miles of bus routes each year and food costs are also rising. Right now, we’re at the mercy of the markets. We just have a lot of factors that are hitting us at one time."

Fort Payne Superintendent Jimmy Cunningham said the loss will translate to a loss of about $70,000 per month for the remainder of the city system’s fiscal year. He said the city system does still have reserves that can absorb the cut, but consistent budget cuts are consistently chipping away at that safety net.

"It’s definitely going to dig into the reserves," he said.

And, he said those reserves aren’t being r eplenished at a rate anywhere close to the loss rate.

"The city voted several years ago to appropriate the bulk of alcohol taxes to education and that amounts to about $250,000 annually," Cunningham said. "At that time, we viewed that amount to be a sufficient amount of tax to fill the hole, but now it doesn’t even come close. Those taxes are still very helpful to the school system, but nothing has been able to keep pace with mitigating the losses."

Cunningham, Warren and other superintendents are also unsure about what the future holds, but Warren has already predicted that layoffs of teachers and support personnel, reduction of teacher benefits, loss of programs, larger class sizes and the closure of some of the county’s smaller schools are some things that could become a reality in 2012.

"We’re all eagerly and anxiously waiting on the 2012 state budget, that’s what’s going to tell us how to plan for next year," Warren said.

He said current cutbacks would be felt immediately, a reduction of about $200,000 per month in state funding. But he also noted the system is legally "locked in" to its current budget, and cannot therefore arbitrarily cut personnel during the current budgetary year.

Warren said the county system is already down to "historically low" staffing levels. "We’ve already had tremendous cuts in personnel as a result of previous proration – we haven’t replaced many resignations and retirements and we’ve cut back on things like maintenance and preventive maintenance," Warren said. "Of course, these are also things that can catch up with you on down the line, and can end up costing more money in the long run."
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State schools Superintendent Joe Morton warned the budget cuts could move some school systems closer to "the brink of insolvency." He said Alabama schools are facing "perilous times."

Warren said that, because of cost-cutting measures already taken, the school system probably won’t have to borrow money to stay afloat during the current fiscal year.

"We’re not looking at a situation where we’re going to have to immediately go to the bank, but when your monthly check from the state is cut by $200,000 per month it might hasten that time," Warren said. "We’re having to do with less right now and it’s not comfortable. It’s just adding stress to an already stressful situation."

Bentley, who was a member of the Legislature when both the general and education trust fund budgets were written, said the documents were based on unreliable revenue projections.

"Now five months into the 2011 fiscal year, it is clear there is not enough revenue to sustain either budget," the Republican governor said.

Bentley said the $5.5 billion education budget has a $165 million shortfall. It marks the third consecutive year that the governor has had to cut funding for public schools and colleges due to appropriations exceeding tax collections.

The forecast is worse for the $1.68 billion General Fund budget for non-education agencies, which Bentley said is $110 million short.