The Winston-Salem/Forsyth County school board began looking last night at $5.2 million in potential budget cuts that would save jobs but would mean smaller paychecks for every school employee.
Cutting in half the local supplement paid to the 40 percent of teachers with a master's degree would save Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools $675,000 and cost a teacher with a master's degree and 10 years of experience $24 a month.
Removing five days from the work year for teacher assistants, primary reading teachers, and occupational and physical therapists would cost an employee making $2,000 a month about $46 dollars a month and save the school system $700,000.
Other recommendations included four furlough days for 12-month employees (saving $525,000), two furlough days for assistant principals and others employees who work more than 10 months and less than 12 (saving $65,000), and a half-day furlough for teachers and other 10-month employees (saving $525,000).
"It is still all a work in progress," said Marilyn Parker as she and other school-bard members went over the list of recommendations put together by Superintendent Don Martin, finance director Kerry Crutchfield, and a committee made up of principals and central-office administrators.
"Very few positions are proposed to be eliminated in this document," Crutchfield said.
The cuts are necessary for the 2010-11 school year because the state is cutting the money it is giving the school system by $3.3 million and increasing what the school system has to pay for retirement and health-care costs by $1.9 million.
Martin and Crutchfield said they had identified another $12 million in potential cuts that were not presented to the board because they were even more burdensome.
The two administrators were holding off on recommending more cuts until necessary. That is quite possible, given that the state has said that another 3 percent financing cut may be coming. That would work out to $8 million less for the schools.
Ideas for dealing with the potential additional financing cuts include charging students who do not get free or reduced-price lunches $40 to play a sport, and making cuts in certain categories of employees. Eliminating foreign-language teachers in elementary schools has come up before.
Board member Buddy Collins said that, before making any budget moves, he would like to hear more about other cuts considered. "We need the staff's input, but it's our budget," he said.
Other board members agreed. Martin and Crutchfield said they would provide summaries of the other budget-reduction possibilities before the board's next meeting on March 23. The board isn't expected to vote on the budget until April.
kunderwood@wsjournal.com
727-7389
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