CARROLLTON — A motion to exclude 16th Section interest money from being used for regular expenditures in the Carroll County school budget prevented the school board from voting on the 2010-2011 budget Monday.
The motion made by Marcus Kuykendall was passed 3-2, with Laura Davis and Rubye Miller voting no and Kenneth Deloach, Ben Shute and Kuykendall voting yes.
Kuykendall had told Superintendent of Schools Billy Joe Ferguson at the June meeting that he was willing to allow $150,000 from the interest funds to go into the regular budget to make up for an expected shortfall in local and state funds in next year’s budget. He said he would prefer to use the funds to help make up the difference, rather than ask the Board of Supervisors to make up the amount that would be lowered from the drop in millage value.
At the July meeting, Ferguson asked the board to forgive the payback of a loan from the 16th Section interest of $176,951 that the board had insisted be put back in the fund July 31. Kuykendall made a motion to forgive the payment, and it passed unanimously. Then Kuykendall made the motion to exclude the interest money from any further use in the budget, telling Ferguson the budget should be drawn up using only projected funds from local, state and federal sources.
Kuykendall also said the interest money can be used for emergency maintenance or for a shortfall that could occur should projected money not come in, and that the board would decide whether or not the money would have to be repaid to the interest fund.
Ferguson said later that there is no need to “reconcile” the budget, because he is not allowed to use 16th Section interest funds in regular expenditures, so no changes should be made. He said the district has until Aug. 15 to have a budget, though school begins Aug. 2.
When asked by Shute to explain how much will be saved with the school re-design that included closing Hathorn Elementary, Ferguson said he has made cuts of $593,045 from the budget in the re-design. “It wasn’t just about closing Hathorn,” he said. “We created a middle school, eliminated two elementary teachers, cut a vocational program at the high school and eliminated a coach.”
“Do you know you won’t have a shortfall next year?” Shute asked the superintendent. Ferguson replied, “We go with the figures we are given from the county and state. I can’t be sure what those actual amounts will be.”
Also Monday:
• The board voted to allow a 21st Century grant application to go forward and accepted bids for 88 computers and five “Smart” boards, to be purchased with federal stimulus funds.
• The board agreed to build a sidewalk and a canopy to channel students coming from the gymnasium to go into the building without going down a middle school hall. “There will be less noise and congestion,” Ferguson said.
• The board agreed to wait until the August meeting on the purchase of $3,820 in band instruments. “I could spend up to $5,000 without permission of the board according to state law, but you have set $3,500,” Ferguson said.
• Shute asked Ferguson what the district is doing to improve the graduation rate and decrease the dropout rate. The superintendent detailed a number of plans, including bringing in a specialist to work with students and teachers. Miller suggested to Ferguson that parents and teachers should be included in developing a dropout plan.
“You, the teachers, everyone has got to do a better job to get kids to come to school,” Kuykendall said.
Ferguson told the board the dropout rate has decreased 50 percent in the last two years, so he felt the district’s plan is working.
• After discussion about the merits of various locations for a meeting location in Carrollton or North Carrollton, the board decided to meet at the band hall at J.Z. George, though Ferguson suggested it was “not the best place to meet.” Kuykendall, Deloach and Shute voted to meet at the band hall, with Miller and Davis voting against the motion.
