The Fleming County Board of Education discovered Wednesday (Feb. 19) it will have to cut more from the budget for next school year.
During a special meeting, board Finance Director Bodie Stevens gave board members several pieces of information that showed about how much money is being spent on payroll, extended days and stipends.
Stevens told the board that a good budget allows 75 to 80 percent to be allotted for personnel, leaving 20 to 25 percent for operating costs.
"You don't want to go over that 80," Stevens said. "The more you have on personnel, the less you have for other areas. And, it can be devastating to a school district."
According to Stevens, the district currently has about 84 percent of the budget spent on personnel, down from the 92 percent from previous years. In order to achieve 80 percent, $521,244.52 will have to be cut from the budget; remaining at 84 percent will still require $459.240.62 in cuts.
"(The 459.240.62) is what has to be cut," Stevens said. "The ($52.244.52) is what has to be cut if they want to be at 80 percent operating expenses."
At this point, the numbers are only projected and may change, Stevens said. He also told the board, one of the things that can be done to curb expenses is to look at how extended days are used for each position.
"You may have people who don't need those extended days," Stevens said.
Stevens presented the board with an example of how the extended days are calculated for employees. If an employee has a base salary of $40,000, extra duty stipend of $6,000 and 55 extended days, they will have a daily rate of $216.21 for extended days. This would equal out to about $57,891 a year for the employee.
"It would make more sense to me that it should be a stipend and not extended days," Superintendent Tom Price said.
Board Member Heather Crump said she wants a chance to look through each position and how the extended days are used before making a decision to cut them for anyone.
"I don't want to cut someone's pay without knowing why we're cutting it," she said. "I wouldn't feel comfortable cutting $5,000 or $6,000 from someone without knowing all of the facts."
Board Member Ed Ward said he is also concerned about the legality of cutting salaries verses the type and amount of duty performed by the individual.
"Can we cut a pay without reducing the duties that come with it?" he asked.
"It's always a concern of mine with cutting pay," Price said. "But, we have to get in line with this."
Collinsworth said it will have to come down to what is best for the students.
"We have to look at what is best for our kids," Collinsworth said. "It is our job to make sure they are getting the best education possible. Sometimes we might have to do things we don't want to do to make that happen. But, it's about the kids."
Board members agreed to look into what other schools are doing and to investigate the salaries more before making any decisions.
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