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Board's decision Thursday could cut more jobs or save some

Burke County School Board Controversy

More articles about the Burke County School Board Controversy

By Steve Welker | The News Herald

Published: June 9, 2009

Morganton, NC - The Burke County Board of Education might fill its vacant seat Thursday morning, but a different decision may have a greater and longer-lasting impact on the schools.
With only five days remaining before the district sends out 2009-10 teaching contracts, the board must choose among several options for staffing the schools next year. Depending on what the board decides, some jobs may not be filled and some current employees may not return. In one scenario, the district might halve its teachers' local supplementary salaries and spend the savings to preserve more jobs.
Burke County Public Schools, like every North Carolina school district, is poised on a budgetary knife edge, wondering how the legislature will slice and dice the state-support budget that pours the biggest stream of funds into public education.
The school board and administration must try to plot a course in a river of ever-shifting financial shoals and snags. Meanwhile, time flows. Contracts must go out soon to lock in a staff for the school year starting July 1.
At this point, the state (and the schools) probably will start the new fiscal year before the General Assembly finishes the year's budget. The N.C. Senate in April approved a budget that raised taxes and fees by $500 million. The budget was DOA in the House even before lawmakers saw tax collections fall dramatically and unemployment rise enormously this spring.
The House concentrated on reducing state expenditures. Almost every week brought new revelations and rumors about spending cuts. The Burke County schools repeatedly recalculated for three percent, then seven and, finally, 11 percent cuts in its state support — what administrators described as the "worse," "worst" and "worst-worst-case" scenarios.
The school board approved a budget and sent it to the county commissioners on May 15. Even then, school board members and administrators knew they probably would revisit and revise it.
Based on the latest estimates and expectations about the legislature's intentions, that revisitation will come sooner than expected.
By the time Thursday's meeting starts at 7:30 a.m. in the Staff Development Center on Concord Street, the school administration should know the outcome of House Appropriations and Finance committee votes last night.
N.C. public schools still hope the Finance Committee will approve a tax plan with enough revenue so appropriations can restore some cuts in services.
For example, a provision to increase class sizes in public schools by two students next year, and three the following year, might exempt classes in kindergarten through third grade, saving almost 2,600 teacher positions next fall, according to legislative staff.
"Without the package, there can be no restoration of the cuts," said Rep. Paul Luebke, D-Durham, the chief architect of the tax plan.
In deciding on staffing options for 2009-10, the Burke County school board will try to fill its own staffing need — the vacancy left when David Barnard resigned a Western District seat on May 2.
At the board's May 18 meeting, board member Rob Hairfield proposed a schedule for filling the vacancy: receive applications until May 31, decide June 8 who to call in for interviews, conduct the interviews and make a selection June 30.
Somehow, the board got off that schedule. Members interviewed applicants Monday night, but couldn't break a 3-3 deadlock on whether to go ahead with choosing one.
Hairfield said he wouldn't decide without time to mull what he'd heard. Sam Wilkinson insisted on having criminal background checks for every applicant before the board makes its choice.
If the board has the results of those background checks — something the school district routinely conducts on volunteers — the six members may try to choose one of the remaining applicants for the board seat. They are John Aulgur, the Rev. W. Flemon "Mac" McIntosh Jr., Justin Tate, David Turbeville and Nellie Yancey.
Under "Robert's Rules of Order," the school board's adopted authority on parliamentary procedure, a majority (often described as "one half plus one" of the members present) may appoint the replacement member who serves until voters elect a permanent replacement in November. The board's chairman is a full voting member not limited to breaking ties. So, with all six members present, a 4-2 vote will be needed to select the new member.
The special called meeting also will include discussion of personnel and legal issues. Those talks typically occur in closed session.