In addition to sorting out how to serve students with less state funding, the Newberry School district also has another hard task for next year’s budget—waiting.

“One of the things you’ve heard tonight and you continue to hear is how frustrating it is for us to try to plan a budget and try to make decisions about personnel in the ’09-’10 school year without having a clear picture of what our revenue is going to be,” said district Superintendent Bennie Bennett at Monday’s monthly board meeting.

In January, superintendents across the state and representatives from the State Department of Education pushed for a bill that would give districts flexibility in spending money they receive from the state, as opposed to earmarked funds already set for a certain use.

If the bill is passed in the senate and approved by Gov. Mark Sanford, it will also allow savings to districts through a possible lower state-mandated salary benchmark for active retired teachers, bigger class sizes and a delay of the day teacher contract are given from April 15 to May 15.

In the meantime, the district waits.

“We’re waiting for answers about stimulus money, we’re waiting for answers about when we can offer (teacher) contracts, we’re waiting for answers about a number of issues,” said Bennett, like, “(Individuals with Disabilities Education Act) money and stabilization money and Title 1 money (for students at schools with factors like highest poverty rates) and whether we’re going to accept it or not accept it. It is very frustrating, but we can’t do anything until we get permission.”

“Flexibility is pretty much what everybody’s begging for,” said board member Jody Hamm. “The quicker they make the decision, the better it’ll be.”

ALSO IN THE WINGS...

The district is also waiting for the state to announce funding cuts.

Just last week, Chief Financial Officer Susan Dowd received notice of more cuts from the state.

The State Department of Education will cut 2 percent from its general fund, and that cut will roll out to districts. Dowd expected the state to tell districts sometime last week just how much that cut means.

Already this year, roughly $2.5 million has been sliced out of Newberry’s state-funded pie.

“We have used all available funds,” said Dowd to the school board. “We have looked and come up with as much as we can come up with out of what we currently have budgeted in the general fund, as well as the fact that you have appropriated $1.6 million out of fund balance [the district’s savings].”

Once the new cut total is announced, Dowd says there are two options to consider:

— a furlough for year-round employees

— appropriating additional fund balance money to fund deficits

“A furlough right now would mean spreading five (furlough) days over three months,” said Dowd.

The new cut will also likely lessen the amount of the district’s base student cost, or primary amount spent for each student’s education, said Dowd.

Also up in the air is just what amount federal recovery funds could bring.

“This is still a little bit of an unknown area, but we are still receiving guidance on stimulus funds,” said Dowd.

Dowd projects that the district will use stimulus funds for federal Title 1 and IDEA programs to keep teacher positions that might have been eliminated.

And as they wait for answers, Board Chairman Don Saylor said it would be nice to have board meetings at standing-room-only capacity.

“We’re going to make decisions in the next couple of weeks that are going to affect a lot of people’s lives in Newberry County. We’ll take all the input we can get,” said Saylor.