NC lawmakers hear from school chiefs on budget

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) ? North Carolina's public schools have been creative in using less state money but must get some relief or the years of spending cuts will finally catch up with student performance, local superintendents told lawmakers on Thursday.

The Legislature's education oversight committee invited the leaders to give their views a month before the budget-adjusting session begins. They urged lawmakers to ease back on requiring all districts to return a combined $503 million to the state during the next fiscal year. That is $74 million more than this year.

These kinds of cuts have been going at one level or another for 11 years, said Lee County Schools Superintendent Jeffrey Moss, calling them a "huge cancer in our budget."

"Eleven years of students have come through our school system and each one of those years we've had less revenue to work with those kids," Moss told lawmakers. "Let's not lose another generation of students."

The superintendents came to discuss the state budget's effects on their school systems, speaking in particular about so-called "mandatory reversions" in which districts must return state funds for education. The reversions come with districts being given the flexibility to decide where to make the cuts. But those and other cuts over the past several years are leaving fewer options for where to save beyond losing classroom personnel, the four superintendents said.

Alleghany County Schools Superintendent Jeff Cox, whose mountain district has seen the number of employees decline 16 percent since mid-2009 to 268 workers, said it had to return $421,463 to the state this fiscal year. Cox said lawmakers have also reduced spending for administrators, instructional support and supplies so it's difficult to know how they'll return even more money for the year starting July 1.

"We can't take it out of textbooks, because we really don't get any textbook money anymore," Cox said. "There are a number of significant funding categories where there's just not any money to pull from, so it ends up being people."

The reversions were part of a $19.7 billion state budget that reduced overall spending on the public schools compared to their projected needs by $459 million. Republican leaders on the committee have been criticized for months by Gov. Beverly Perdue, other Democrats and education groups for the reductions.

Two weeks ago, the State Board of Education held an unusual public hearing to allow more superintendents to sound off and raise alarms about funding. House Speaker Thom Tills, R-Mecklenburg, said months ago that lawmakers also would hold hearings with superintendents in districts that lay off teachers to find out why they did so. But no meeting had been scheduled until now.

GOP legislators were quick to point out Thursday the mandated district reductions have been a tool used by both parties. Democrats initiated $304 million in discretionary cuts during the 2009-10 and 2010-11 school years. Democrats counter that Republicans could have avoided last year increasing the level of reversions if they had permitted a temporary penny increase on the sales tax to remain on the books.

"The cuts have been coming for many years," said Rep. Bryan Holloway, R-Stokes, an education budget-writer. Holloway and budget counterpart Sen. Jerry Tillman, R-Randolph, said they hoped to ease the level of the reversions if the state's revenue picture allowed it. The General Assembly and Perdue should get a better idea when April tax collections are all counted.

"I do know that discretionary cuts have taken a toll and I do think there is some sentiment in trying to do something about that," Tillman said.

Perdue said her budget proposal for the year starting July 1 will seek a three-quarter cent sales tax increase designed to reduce the discretionary cuts and make up for federal grant money districts used to hire more than 5,400 school personnel this year. Republican leaders insist no sales tax increase will occur.

Tillman pointed out how the school districts represented Thursday had improved academically despite the spending reductions ? they mentioned higher test scores, increased graduation rates and more students taking Advanced Placement classes.

Moss said children in third grade and higher in the Lee County system have access to laptops, where they can go to teacher-approved websites to access contemporary information and at cheaper price than textbooks. Elementary school students in the system read 25,000 e-books in the first six months of the year.

"Those are 25,000 books I did not have to put in the media center," Moss said. "That does save money."

Superintendent Michael Bracy of the Jones County school system, where end-of-course test scores are outpacing the state average after years of high dropout rates and teacher turnover, asked lawmakers to think beyond dollars and cents when forming the next budget.

"We as adults have to remember numbers are crucial, numbers are important," told the committee. "But we can't forget that the reason why we're all here is probably because (of) an educator who helped us get where we are."

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