News-Record.com

I am reporting on the school board's 2008-09 budget line item review, which has been going on since 7:30 a.m. The board is on page 12 of 31 so this could be going on for a while longer.

A couple notable points that I am following up on today:
* Wanda Frazier, the district's risk manager, is reviewing two bids for new property insurance coverage. The financial services department has increased its budget for 2008-09 by 30 percent to about $798,000, and has increased the values of its facilities by 37 percent. The department took a deeper look at its property insurance coverage after Eastern Guilford High was destroyed by fire in November 2006. Frazier hopes to have a recommendation to the board within two weeks.

* The board is considering the budget impact of adopting a "living wage" of $12.40 an hour for its classified employees (estimated to cost about $5 million). The salary increases would benefit employees such as bus drivers, teaching assistants and cafeteria workers, some who are making about $10 an hour.

The board will discuss the budget more at its regular meeting on Thursday. Stay tuned for details from today's review.

Howard Lee, chairman of the state Board of Education, and state Superintendent June Atkinson, are not happy about the proposed budget coming out of the Senate. Their statement, released Monday:

"Today, the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Education released its budget for the public schools. Overall, the news for PreK-12 schools is not good.

First, we want to commend the Senate on fully funding the State Board of Education's request to expand the More at Four Prekindergarten Program. This will ensure that at least 5,000 additional at-risk 4-year-olds are prepared to enter and succeed in the public schools.

At the same time, the Senate's budget overall will place the burden of funding quality education on our local school districts. As diesel fuel prices push past $4 per gallon, the Senate increased the fuel budget by a net of $8 million or $0.32 per gallon. This leaves a major hole in the PreK-12 budget. If the Senate Budget passes as it is currently written, it is likely that we will need to withhold from $40-$60 million from local school districts' budgets in order to cover fuel and student population growth needs. In addition, the Senate budget for ABCs bonuses for teachers is $36 million short of our projections for the 2007-08 school year. This level of funding likely would mean reductions to the bonuses awarded to our public school teachers.

In addition, the Senate failed to make key investments requested by the Board to increase needed services for teachers and principals in schools with low student achievement and high dropout rates as part of the state's assistance program and the Court's focus on low-performing high schools.

We look forward to addressing these concerns as the budget process continues."

Note: The public can listen to the state Board of Education discuss the 2008-09 budget in a 3 p.m. special meeting today.

The N.C. Department of Public Instruction notified district finance officers across the state Monday that they could face a shortfall in funds provided for diesel fuel. Below, the text of that message: