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Which is wiser – hiring more teachers or padding the district’s rainy day fund in the face of an economic downslide? That was the debate that split Cape Henlopen school board members at their Thursday, March 13 meeting.
Board member Spencer Brittingham cautioned against being too cautious with money at the expense of education. But, Superintendent George Stone said hiring more teachers than state allowances provide for, or hiring teachers on local funds only, will put the district back in financial trouble.
“I see reserves for everything but more teachers and more paraprofessionals,” Brittingham said as he and fellow board members examined and discussed the district’s fiscal year 2008 budget.
Oliver Gumbs, director of business operations, gave board members a new budget, more detailed than last month’s.
Stone advocated using creative options for staffing, such as hiring part-time support staff, instead of relying on local funds or money in hand to hire with. But, Brittingham disagreed. “I think sometimes we’re overprotective with our money, saying we shouldn’t hire people because we don’t know if the money will be there next year, but putting the money in other funds,” Brittingham said.
Rebounding from its recent financial trouble, the district needs to be careful with its money, said board member Allan Redden. “It’s nice to have a lot of nice-to-haves. But, if we spend our money down to zero, we’ll be back in the same problem we just got out of,” he said.
Stone offered what he called a “gloom and doom” prediction of the state’s finances for next year, saying the state could be cutting costs to education by 3 percent to 5 percent. Staying out of the red must be a priority for the district, said Redden.
The board discussed the more detailed version of the budget on Thursday, March 13. Gumbs added a breakdown of salaries and a comparison of costs among all the district’s schools in the latest version. The board has not yet scheduled a date to vote to approve the budget. Because of the Easter holiday, the board will meet Thursday, April 24.
Contact Leah Hoenen at leah@capegazette.com
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