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Sacrifices because of budget reductions taking heavy toll
February 23, 2010
Charter schools cope with cuts
Sacrifices because of budget reductions taking heavy toll, state director says
By Diette Courrégé
The state's public schools have suffered because of the mid-year budget reductions, but the cuts have been particularly difficult on charter schools, including those in Charleston County.
Like school districts, charter schools build their budgets based on the revenue they expect to receive each year. But charter schools' budgets typically are smaller and have less flexibility to absorb mid-year changes.
The fewer students they serve, the more difficult it is to make adjustments, said Mary Carmichael, executive director of the South Carolina Association of Public Charter Schools.
"Across the board, many of the charter schools have had to either make salary cuts or not implement some of the things they thought they'd be implementing at this point in the year," she said. "Most have cut back on anything they could that didn't affect classrooms, and this last round, they've started looking at salaries."
The state has reduced its mid-year revenue projections twice for a total of a 9 percent cut. In addition to those reductions, local charter schools' revenue was decreased again after the district received its audited revenues from the previous year. Because those numbers fell, charter schools saw a drop off in funding.
"It's brutal," said Bob Bohnstengel, principal of James Island Charter High, the county's largest charter school with more than 1,400 students.
Charleston County has seven charter schools, and each has an elected board of parents and community members that oversee its budget and governs the school.
Although Charleston County School District has not had to resort to furloughs or layoffs to balance its budget, local charter schools have done both.
James Island Charter High leaders decided to furlough its teachers for two days and its administrators for four to help balance their budget.
The school already had cut all of its departmental budgets by 5 percent and not filled, or absorbed, any non-teaching positions that came open during the year. But non-salary costs only make up about 20 percent of the school's budget, Bohnstengel said.
The school still had to go to its reserve fund to make up the difference, and Bohnstengel said it's not unreasonable to expect that the school could end up with a 2 percent contingency fund at the end of the year.
The school hasn't had to lay off employees or cut programs, but it has frozen budgets and all but eliminated field trips.
Just one calamity, and the school goes "belly up," Bohnstengel said.
"It's pretty scary," he said. "It's very, very difficult for charter schools."
The downtown Charleston Charter School for Math & Science has about 300 students, and it's had to lay off five employees as a result of the cuts. The positions eliminated were administrative and included administrative assistants, a guidance counselor and its family and community relations staff member.
Freddie Whaley, who chairs the school's board, said the school's lead teachers have picked up extra duties but the cuts to staff will not compromise the school's effectiveness.
"We were a little bit heavy in administration," he said. "When you receive a cut like (that), you have to look at what excesses you have and trim those while maintaining the integrity of the program you have at school."
The school still plans to expand next year to 11th grade, and Whaley said he's hopeful some of the positions that have been eliminated can be restored.
Greg Mathis Charter High is a small charter school that has 10 teachers and 93 at-risk students.
The North Charleston school tried negotiating with its contractors and service-providers to pay bills on an installment basis, but that still wasn't enough to handle the cuts made to its roughly $650,000 budget.
The school couldn't cut any teaching positions because it wouldn't be able to offer the courses students need to earn a diploma, so the entire staff took a 10 percent pay cut.
"We're cutting deeper into an already tight budget," said Vernon Holmes, chairman of the charter school's board. "Everyone is working as a family. You pull together and you don't want anyone to lose, so everyone sacrifices."
