The proposed legislative budget cuts to K-12 education, although still up in the air, are going to be deep, but just how deep is what local school administrators continue to ponder.

For Sampson County and Clinton City schools the proposals could result in the loss of educators. Earlier this week word came that the plan right now continues to be cutting all third-grade teacher assistants in the state, a cut that hits close to home.

“What we are going to try and do is to look out for our funding in all areas,” said Clinton City Schools superintendent Dr. Gene Hales. “We hope to be able to work through all of it through attrition. One of the options that has been suggested is a reduction in staff. We don’t want to do that, and we are hoping that we do not have to dip into our fund balance, because we have to keep funds in there in case of emergencies. (With the cuts) It is going to be tough.”

Sampson County Schools superintendent Dr. Ethan Lenker agrees.

“I was fortunate enough to be asked to attend a special meeting with the state Senate chairs and Senator (Marc) Basnight yesterday (Tuesday),” he said. “The emphasis of that meeting was to stress to us, the public, and education as a whole, that the budget crisis is for real and they (legislators) are not playing compromising games.

“The state budget, as a whole, if adopted exactly from the House plan, would truly set education back. But during our meeting with the Senate, we, as superintendents, stressed that we need the flexibility to transfer funds from one budget item to another, the reason being is what is good for Sampson County may not be the best plan for Wake County or Jones County. But with the possibility of an 11 percent budget cut, K-12 education is taking the full force of the current budget crisis.”

Since the state has already asked every school system to return money, and locally, a three percent proposed increase, down from seven percent, in next year’s budget, doesn’t even come close to balancing out the state’s proposed cuts, administrators will have all they can handle just keeping employees, they say.

“We have already returned over $200,000 to the state,” noted Hales. “That is four or five teaching salaries right there, or 10 teaching assistants. Every decision at the state level puts the budget burden back on us locally, and I can appreciate the efforts our local leaders are making. Our goal is to keep jobs and make sure our people are taken care of.”

Lenker, whose system has already returned $500,000 to the state, appeared in front of county commissioners just last week explaining that his school system would be working with about $145,000 less than the $317,00 anticipated earlier from the board to open Union Intermediate School. The cut from seven percent to three, would prevent the school from opening.

“In February, this board approved that we would get this money,” Lenker told board members at the meeting, but with cuts from the state, that prospect isn’t looking too promising.

On Wednesday, Lenker said he understood the commissioners’ position, but will continue to work to get the school open.

“I certainly understand the situation the county manager and the commissioners are in,” he said. “As a school system, we are moving forward with our plans to open Union Intermediate School and moving the middle school to the old high school. I just hope the commissioners examined our requested budgeted and saw that we cut our own budget by $336,000 or 4.5 percent, plus we are looking at an 11 percent cut from the state ...”

While the main concern is keeping jobs in both systems, if cuts need to happen, administrators could be faced with not rehiring retirees, often referred to as “double-dippers” — which is something neither superintendent wants to do.

The retirees are referred to as “double-dippers” because they are paid state retirement and receive a salary from the school system as educators. The school systems do not fund any benefits to them.

“The actual date to rehire retirees is by Oct. 1,” noted Hales. “We want to use our retirees and be able to hire new teachers as well. We like to keep that option open because our retirees are some of our best qualified teachers. In addition, in the past, we have had problems with recruiting new teachers to the area — so having those 13 or so positions for our retirees is actually a great thing for us and the students.”

“The rehired retirees are a difficult subject because they are some of the best teachers in our school system,” said Lenker. “The issue now is if the state is even going to re-authorize rehiring those teachers. Again, I hope the state applies some flexibility because the needs of the individual LEAs are different.”

Either way, administrators will have to continue to play the waiting game until later this month when a final state budget is expected to be approved.

To reach Doug Clark call 910-592-8137 ext. 123 or send e-mail to sisports@myclintonnc.com.