Major state funding cuts for education are showing up on the Commerce School System financial ledger.
Reductions in monthly Quality Based Education (QBE) allotments — basically, the state’s education funding program — totaled $112,167 in April alone in Commerce, according to school system reports. Prior to April, the monthly cut had been just $7,819.
Commerce schools expect a similar financial blow in May and June.
“Every month, they’re just taking a chunk out,” superintendent James “Mac” McCoy said.
When school leaders composed this year’s budget, they expected a $93,000 austerity cut from the state. But the cut ballooned as the state announced larger reductions.
Commerce schools now stand to lose $465,000 in QBE by the end of the fiscal year.
The school system received a $47,000 “midterm adjustment” — extra money given to a school system to compensate for growth — but those funds were absorbed by the state cuts.
“It tore it out from underneath us,” said Ann Stokey, the school system’s finance director.
Stokey noted that system started the year with a good reserve, “but it’s going to start getting eaten alive.”
School board member Arthur Lee Pattman asked McCoy at Thursday’s board of education work session what the financial situation means for the city school system.
“It’s a wait-and-see, Mr. Pattman — a lot of sleepless nights,” McCoy said. “I hope for the best; I prepare for the worst.”
McCoy added that “every school system around us is struggling.”
Meanwhile, next year’s budget remains unclear because the amount of state funding is uncertain. Commerce schools were supposed to receive their budget sheet for 2009-2010 last week, but the state is now unsure when it will release that information.
“So how do you prepare a budget when you don’t know what you’re going to get?” McCoy asked.
The central office has organized next year’s ledger the best it can, ready to plug in numbers whenever they’re available from the state.
“We haven’t done anything new, and we’ve cut everything we can possibly cut,” McCoy said.
Making the overall financial picture more ominous is fear of a 3-5 percent reduction in property tax revenue, according to McCoy, given the slumping real estate market. Property taxes are a vital source of revenue for the school system.
Furthermore, the struggling economy is affecting the system’s SPLOST revenue. Commerce schools collected a scant $72,324 this month, the weakest report in recent memory.
