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July 30, 2010

BOE passes final budget

Millage lowest since ’96, McCoy says

Alan Mauldin The Moultrie Observer

MOULTRIE — Colquitt County School Board this week approved a $64.59 million budget to operate the school system for the next budget year.

To deal with state budget cuts of $2 million from last year, the system will cut the number of student days by three, to 177, and trim the number of days teachers work by six, including the three less student days and a reduction by the same amount in planning days.

Each day schools are closed saves the system $385,000, McCoy said Thursday.

Even with the reduction in days students will receive more than the amount of instructional time required by the state, he said.

“On a daily rate we go beyond what’s mandated by the state board,” McCoy said. “Even with eliminating three days we’re exceeding the state mandate. Any time you don’t have students in school there’s still something lost. We’ve tried to make decisions where we thought would minimize instructional losses.”

The system did not lay off any instructional personnel, but did eliminate 19 positions through attrition. Of those, 12 were literacy and math coaches, whose duties were folded back into the classroom, McCoy said.

Other cost-cutting measures include:

• No adoption of new textbooks for grades nine through 12 English, foreign language and English for Speakers of Other Languages. Current textbooks will be used and any needed replacements will be purchased.

• Little, if any, hiring of new employees unless additional federal funds are made available. Teachers and administrators leaving the system will not be replaced if reasonable adjustments can be made.

• Requiring substitute teachers to pay the costs of physicals and criminal background checks.

• Reduction in the purchases of custodial supplies, with an overall reduction of maintenance and operating expenses of $500,000.

• Reducing system expenditures for travel and registration, supplies, books and computers.

The school board also set the property tax millage rate this week at an effective rate of 8.463 mills. That represents a rate of 14.759 mills minus a 6.296-mill rollback on a 1 percent local option sales tax that goes toward school operations.

The millage rate approved by the board is the lowest since at least 1996, McCoy said.

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