The Overton County School Board facing a $1 million shortfall in the next fiscal year budget.
School Board Chairman William Abston said school officials have been working hard the last several weeks to find answers. Abston said a declining student enrollment is one of the main contributors to the shortfall.
“We’ve lost 40 from last year to this time,” Abston said. “Now, those 40 students I know that they increase the amount that we receive per student this year, but those 40 students cost us around $400,000.”
Abston said if the school system charged employees 20 percent of the cost for health insurance, it would make up the entire shortfall. Abston said Overton County Schools is one of the few school systems that covers 100 percent of the health insurance cost for employees.
Board Member Ricky Dodson said he was not for changing the health insurance.
“I don’t want to cut our insurance one penny,” Dodson said. “We give somebody something it is hard to take it away from them. That would be like giving me five Oreo cookies and then take three of them from me, I ain’t gonna be happy.”
Abston said the budget does feature a $2,500 raise for teachers who meet the requirements to receive a state-mandated baseline pay of $47,000. Abston said teachers who do not meet those requirements would receive a $1,000 increase. Board Member Mike Hayes said giving different raises to teachers could repeat history.
“I’m not a fan of taking one group at this and the rest at a lower because that’s what got us in a situation years ago, and we had to sit down and redo it all because it got to the point where your start teacher and your 20-year teacher there was very little gap in between,” Hayes said. “If we are gonna do something, go across the board.”
The board also talked about potentially absorbing positions as a potential option to make up for some of the shortfall. Abston said the school system may have some employees who retire, which would make it easier to absorb those positions.
The board did not make any official decisions in Tuesday’s work session. The board will evaluate and further discuss budget cuts at the next board meeting on May 29.
