As the sun sets this week on the most trying fiscal year educators can recall, superintendents and legislators brace for the dawn of fiscal year 2010, which begins Wednesday.
Dwindling state funding from decreased tax revenues led many school boards this month to pass significantly smaller 2010 budgets.
After laying off nearly 150 teachers and paraprofessionals combined, school boards in Gainesville and Hall County approved budgets that cut pay for nearly all system employees.
The Forsyth County school system pulled $7 million from its exceptionally robust $42 million surplus to make ends meet.
And the Jackson County school system is furloughing administrators five days next school year to try and stay out of the red.
State tax revenues show no signs of an upturn anytime soon and legislators say they don’t expect Georgia to hit rock bottom financially until fall.
Already having pared budgets down to the bare bones, Hall County Superintendent Will Schofield said educators are entering the next fiscal year, "the crunch year," with only extreme conservation and creativity left in their bag of tricks.
"I think what the vast majority of municipalities and school systems have done this year is we’ve kind of all been deer in the headlights; we’ve never seen anything like this before," Schofield said. "And so most of us have had some reserves to rely on and we’ve pieced together fiscal year 2009 with reserves.
"Now a lot of us, those reserves are getting closer and closer to being depleted and so what that says is either we’ll go bankrupt and go into deficit spending or we have to come up with more efficient methods and services."
Hall schools spent $8 million of its $13 million surplus from the last fiscal year. Gainesville schools will enter the new budget year with about a $3.6 million deficit, down from the $5.4 million deficit it showed at the end of fiscal year 2008.
Jackson County Superintendent Shannon Adams said with his system having no real surplus to cushion potential state cuts, he stops short of the word "desperation."
"You can’t get blood out of a turnip, I guess," he said. "... We really are trying to stay out of a deficit. It truly is a critical situation."
Adams said the system opened three new schools in the past two years and started fiscal year 2009 with a small surplus. He said the system still is trying to carve another $4 million out of its tentative $92 million budget for the upcoming year.
And it’s still unclear if, how much and when the state may have to cut.
Rep. Edward Lindsey, R-Atlanta, is chairman of the House Subcommittee for Education Appropriations and said no one knows what fiscal surprises the next year may hold.
"My fear very well is we may have to make some additional cuts down the road, which will be very, very difficult," Lindsey said.
"It’s hard to truly figure that out and that’s why we have to start the dialogue," he said. "... I don’t want there to be a surprise. I want there to be a joint effort on our part so cuts are made where we can most afford to do so."
Lindsey said he wants legislators to work closely with school leaders to develop a plan in case another round of state cuts are unavoidable.
House education committee Chairman Rep. Brooks Coleman, R-Duluth, said legislators may encourage the state Department of Education to grant school systems even more spending flexibility following a year when the department expanded class size requirements. Salaries and benefits make up about 85 percent to 90 percent of school systems’ budgets.
"Now we’re to the point that the only way you can make big cuts is through personnel," he said. "... It’s going to be a tough year, I’ll say that."
Gainesville schools Superintendent Merrianne Dyer said she’s planning for the worst as the system tries to get creative while digging its way out of a deficit.
"We’re just being realistic," she said. "We’re also trying to be really creative. Instead of just being a victim of this, we’re trying to be really creative. I think we’ll come out of this with some really good new systems in place."
She said the Gainesville system is finding ways to operate with only a handful of central office employees. And principals are taking more responsibility in the way their schools are run.
"We are proud of what we did this year fiscally," Dyer said. "Having met those challenges this year, we’re confident that we can do it again this year."
Schofield said he believes there are some "great opportunities hidden in these economic times."
He pointed to the Da Vinci Academy, a forthcoming science and art program for Hall County middle schoolers, as an example of ways educators can create innovative learning opportunities using less money than a traditional classroom.
"We’re truly going to have to do a better job with people’s kids with fewer resources and I think that’s a positive thing," he said. "... I think this has the potential to catapult us to a new level."