2011-12 school budget will be challenge

Aiken County School District board members and administrators confirmed what districts throughout the state have realized for several months: The 2011-12 budget will be an extraordinary challenge.

At a "Budget 101" session Tuesday, the board and members of the public received an overview of the budget process and the financial issues ahead.

Federal stimulus and stabilization funds the Aiken School district has received in 2009-10 and in the current year will go away next June, leaving a $11 million shortfall.

The district could also lose more state funding on top of several budget cuts over the last two cuts.

The board has had to make its cuts to balance its budget for several years and will have to do so again, said acting Board Chair Rosemary English.

"We have no other choice," she said. "But we don't plan to cut the quality of education that we give to students."

One problem is that the school district has few areas to cut significantly. Approximately 74 percent of the budget is tied up in instruction and instructional support, three percent above the state average, said Comptroller Tray Traxler. He said budget reductions have led to personnel losses and furlough programs.

The good news, he said, is that extensive cuts in past years reduced the need for more far-reaching reductions in the current budget year. Still, the current per-pupil allocation from the S.C. General Assembly is $1,630, equivalent to 1994-95 levels, and about $1,100 less than the legislature's own formula.

During public comment, Jet Beckum expressed alarm about low test scores among many students in grades 4-8. If taxpayers aren't getting their money's worth now, he said, they won't support any tax increases.

However, retiree Bob Llewellyn noted from Traxler's presentation that the Aiken district is spending about $7,300 per student, far less than the state average of $9,000.

"I paid a lot more in taxes when I lived in New England," Llewellyn said. "I wouldn't mind paying some more taxes if it improved the level of our educational system."

Several board members, including new trustee Dwight Smith, expressed gratitude for Llewellyn's comments.

Actually, the School Board no longer has the authority or the capability of raising tax millage more than a token amount. State lawmakers substituted a now-unstable sales tax for property taxes on owner-occupied homes and, since then, has imposed a cap sharply limiting the amount of tax millage boards can raise.

The limit last year was about 1.2 mills, which would have barely registered with other categories of property, such as businesses and second homes.

The School Board didn't raise the millage at all, trustee Ray Fleming said.

Joan Grief, a South Aiken High school math teacher, said the faculty members are doing the best they can every day.

"I hope the board thinks of us as teachers," she said, "and think about what we can do for the betterment of our students, so they won't suffer. We're at bare bones right now. I don't know what could be cut, and it bothers me."

Contact Rob Novit at rnovit@aikenstandard.com.