Stephens Co. Schools To Look For $2.6 Million More In Cuts

Stephens County School Superintendent Bryan Dorsey said that the Stephens County School System must cut another $2.6 million from its budget in the next fiscal year that starts July 1 in order to push the need to borrow money back past July in calendar year 2016.

Dorsey gave the Stephens County Board of Education that figure at its work session and called meeting on Thursday.

“When we are trying to get off the dependency of the TAN’s (tax anticipation notes), it requires us over all the other cuts we have made, an additional $2.6 million of cuts to push those TAN’s below July 1 for next year, and then the possibility if all things else stayed equal, of having those (TAN’s) removed from the operational budget,” said Dorsey.

Dorsey said that the $2.6 million figure assumes that the school system will maintain 16 furlough days in the next fiscal year.

Also, he acknowledged that the figure assumes no unexpected cost increases or losses in revenue or funding from where the school system is now.

Dorsey said continuing the climb out of the financial hole will require everything to be put on the table.

“One of the things we are going to have to start doing, now that we have identified the target, is presenting the Board with lots of aggressive ideas and find out which ones they find palatable,” said Dorsey.

According to Dorsey, those ideas will be brought forward to the school system over the coming months for next fiscal year’s budget.

Dorsey did say that the school board could choose not to make all $2.6 million in cuts this coming fiscal year.

“We certainly have the option to stagger that out,” said Dorsey.

However, he said that just delays the continued climb out of the financial hole that the school system is in.

Dorsey went on to say that these will be extremely hard decisions and discussions, but they are ones that have to be made.

“There is no one involved at any level of this decision process that is wanting to do this, we just know we have been in a financial place where we cannot avoid this to make sure we are doing the right things for the school system financially,” said Dorsey.

The Stephens County Board of Education holds its regular monthly business meeting on Tuesday at 5:30 p.m. at the school system administrative offices on Mize Road.