School budget ready for board vote

School Superintendent Ed Gray makes a point as school board member Amy Martin follows the discussion. (T-G Photo by John I. Carney) [Order this photo]

School Superintendent Ed Gray said the budget as proposed would not require any property tax increase or reduction in fund balances, even though the system is opening two new facilities this fall.

The new fiscal year begins July 1.

Bedford County Finance Director Robert Daniel told the board the budget assumes a 5 percent decrease in sales tax revenue. He said the county projected a similar decrease in the current budget, and wound up in better shape than some nearby counties, which did not budget as conservatively.

Certified employees -- teachers and administrators -- will receive the salary increase funded by the state, plus what Daniel called a "nominal" increase in the local salary supplement required by the county's labor contract with the teachers. Non-certified school employees, like other county employees, will receive no salary increase.

School board member Amy Martin said she's concerned about some of the elementary schools that don't have assistant principals. She said principals are required more and more often to be off-site for meetings or other activities. She said that even if some elementary schools needed to share an assistant principal, it would be of benefit.

Gray said his rule of thumb, based on Southern Association of Colleges and Schools guidelines, is that a school with 500 or more students qualifies for a half-time assistant principal, while one with 699 or more students qualifies for a full-time assistant principal.

The budget will be voted on June 18 at the board's regular monthly meeting.

New schools, new roads

The board approved change orders adding roads to the two current construction projects: the new Learning Way Elementary School and the new building for Community High School. Both projects are intended to help with traffic problems around the schools.

At Learning Way, the idea is to connect the Harris Middle School and Learning Way parking lots, which would help to ease some traffic problems by allowing some Harris Middle School traffic to exit onto Madison Street once school buses have departed. This project would cost $11,668.

The much larger project is at Community High School, where a back entrance would allow access to the school from U.S. 41-A. That project will be 4,400 feet long and will cost a total of $331,346.

In each case, there's enough left over in the contingency fund for the project to fund the road improvement.

Architect John Davis said the original price for the Community High School road project was higher but that "value engineering" was done to bring it down to the current price. For example, shoulders were made narrower.

The county's construction consultant, Bud Melson, said the prices were reasonable for the work being done.