Bedford County Board of Education members Ron Adcock, left, and Leonard Singleton listen as county Finance Director Robert Daniel explains a working draft of the school budget for 2008-2009. (T-G Photo by John I. Carney) [Click to enlarge] [Order this photo]

Bedford County Board of Education reviewed preliminary budget figures Monday evening, and the school system -- like other government agencies -- is bracing for a drop in sales tax revenue and sharply higher energy costs in the new fiscal year.

"It's a pinch," said member Ron Adcock.

School board members said they recognize that the taxpayers are under the same kind of crunch.

"It's a bad, bad time to be asking for more tax money," said chairman Barry Cooper.

School Superintendent Ed Gray, who serves by virtue of his position on the county's Financial Management Committee, said that committee doesn't seem likely to recommend any sort of tax increase.

"Basically," said Cooper, "20 percent of our budget comes from the county, and it's not going up at all in this proposed budget."

The school system will receive an increase of $788,000 in state funding based on student population growth. That will help pay for the 22 new positions added to the budget.

Gray said the state has frozen any increases in Basic Education Program (BEP) 2.0 funding, although some money may be available later.

"They're still crunching numbers in Nashville on that," said Gray.

The board hopes to vote on a final budget at its regular meeting June 19.

The working budget presented by county finance director Robert Daniel includes no across-the-board salary increases, but it does include the step longevity raises which have been standard policy. The school board asked Daniel to compute the possible cost of adding an additional one-year step at the top of the ladder to reward longtime employees who would otherwise have topped out and received no increase.

They also asked Daniel to research the salaries paid to substitute teachers in surrounding counties to judge where Bedford County stands competitively.

The working budget projects a cost of $5.25 per gallon for diesel fuel. Currently, the school system pays a tax-exempt price of just over $4 per gallon.

Electrical costs are also projected to rise, from $1.54 million in the current budget to $1.82 million in the new budget. That's based not only on rate increases but also on additional square footage added as a result of construction projects.

The budget also projects a 5 percent decrease in sales tax revenues, which have been running below projections in the current fiscal year.

The real estate market has been sagging as well, said school board members, but there's been enough new construction that the overall county-wide property tax revenue is still projected to grow a little in 2008-09.

One question mark in Monday night's working budget was the fund balances -- how much the school system will have in its accounts when it starts the new fiscal year on July 1. Daniel said he's still trying to finalize that information.

Some people have suggested converting to a four-day school week as an austerity measure, but Gray said he's been told by state officials that it would be illegal, despite published reports that some other counties are considering it. It would take a change in state law, said Gray, and therefore it probably couldn't be put into place until the next school year.

What's Next

The school board will hold its regular monthly meeting 7 p.m. June 19 at the school system central office on Madison Street.