Sampson County’s Board of Commissioners is facing a tough budget decision with regards to funding for Sampson County and Clinton City schools, and while we hope they give great consideration to some financial growth for the two systems, we urge them to think twice before stepping too far out on the precipice.

It’s a slippery slope, but knowing our current Board of Commissioners, we think they will be prudent in their financial decisions, averting both a tax increase and a deep bend toward the schools at the expense of other departmental needs across the county.

That doesn’t mean we don’t favor helping the schools out. We do. No one supports public education more than we do, and no one agrees more that per pupil funding is still a ways from where it should be, but commissioners and county staff shouldn’t be the only ones looking closely to find needed funding. The school systems have that responsibility too, and they need to begin looking now at the hard but necessary cuts that could help alleviate some of the financial pain without overburdening the county and, in the end, taxpayers.

It is true that both school systems are losing significant state and federal dollars; and it is truer still that both Clinton City and Sampson County are seeing dwindling fund balances due to a steady need to dip into them year after year.

Sampson, the larger of the two systems, is seeing the most troubling financial issues right now. Clinton City, which continues to benefit from a supplemental tax city residents pay each year and a smaller number of students, has its own money woes but they aren’t in the same financial straits the county system finds itself in, and perhaps have a little more wiggle room to apply creative thinking to help solve some of their problems.

Both systems deserve some per pupil expenditure growth. How much the county can afford becomes the question.

Even as county staff and commissioners begin looking at ways to fund the growing needs — the two systems are seeking $100 more per pupil in 2017-18, requests that will mean about $1 million in addition money from the county — boards of education and educational administrators need to closely evaluate their own systems to see if there are places that they are, perhaps, top heavy.

The immediate answer, we are certain, would be for superintendents to begin looking at their systems critically. If there are ways to do as much with a little less, that should be the place the two boards of education should ask their leaders to examine first. Student programs like art and music should not be immediate considerations but the last options on the table.

We are not in favor of cutting people either, but sometimes it becomes necessary if a sinking financial ship is to be righted; doing so, of course, requires hard decisions. The school systems may not be there yet, but the picture is not nearly as rosy as it once was.

The school systems have done some of this already, but more may be required.

Commissioners and education officials have started on the right foot, meeting with county staff to discuss the needs and the challenges the school systems face.

The next steps will be critical. We hope commissioners can find some additional funding for our schools, but we also hope education officials don’t allow county government to go it alone, doing their own financial due diligence

There is no easy way to solid financial footing, but with all these groups working together we believe good and workable solutions can be found, solutions that will be in the best interest of everyone.