Dothan City Schools budget would avoid layoffs

The Dothan City Schools administration has come up with a plan to trim millions from its budget without resorting to layoffs this year.

The city school system, like other public school systems in Alabama was hit with an additional 7.5 percent cut in state funding this year following about 11 percent in cuts last year.

The across-the-board cut, known as proration, will force the city schools to cut $3.5 million from the budget.

On Monday, city schools chief financial officer Mike Manuel unveiled a plan involving freezing hiring, tapping capital outlay money and using one-time federal stimulus funds, which will allow the city schools to ride out the 2009-2010 fiscal year without cutting jobs.

The plan offsets the majority of the $3.5 million that must be cut by accessing the system’s capital outlay fund — money provided for construction and maintenance needs — and using federal stimulus money to pay about 15 special education teacher salaries.

The plan will be voted on by the board at a future date.

Dothan City School Board Chairman Harry Wayne Parrish praised the plan, and explained that the city schools can’t adopt measures like furloughs and reduced school weeks that systems in other states are using because of Alabama law.

Dothan City School Superintendent Sam Nichols said the plan would get the city school system through this year, but unless the funding outlook brightens considerably next year some hard decisions will have to be made.

“It’s not necessarily the best way to do it,” Nichols said of the current plan. “But it’s a way to do it without layoffs.”

Parrish said the city school system needs to come up with a long term plan to address the boom and bust cycle of Alabama education funding.

“We’ve got to plan for 10 years later, we can’t just plan for right now,” he said.