I am sure that tongues were wagging at water coolers around many schools today, and rightfully so. Cuts are coming. Schools face the prospect of layoffs because of declining enrollments and cutbacks in funding from the state. Several counties have already begun closing underused schools.

      As one superintendent said, “It may get uglier before it gets better.”

      In Clay County, School Board members will be wrestling with a proposal to eliminate some 115 positions at a savings of $6.3 million for the 2009-2010 school year.

      ”We have no growth,” Superintendent Ben Wortham told board members at their regular meeting Thursday night. (Jan. 15) as he laid out a plan to reduce the district budget by $10.5 million due to a decline in state funding.

        In an exchange with reporters after the meeting, Wortham said it is his hope that attrition would absorb most of the cutbacks.

        ”I don’t want to lose any of our people,” he said.

         The district has been hiring anywhere from 250 to 400 people annually, the newly elected superintendent said, so he thinks that retirements and resignations will handle the bulk of the cutbacks.

         “Each school will lose three to five positions and it will be up to the principals to decide who goes if they don’t get it through attrition,” Wortham said in his proposal.

The exact nature of the cutbacks will be discussed at a School Board workshop at 4 p.m. Monday, Jan. 26, at the Teacher Training Center at Fleming Island High School. Both Wortham and School Board member Frank Farrell urged as many people as possible to attend the workshop.

“Everything is on the table,” Wortham said.

Some of Wortham’s other budget-cutting suggestions were:

• $2 million by shifting capital outlay funds to support the maintenance department.
• $500,000 in facilitites budget reductions.
• $300,000 by cutting supplements 10 percent.
• $350,000 by cutting district level operating budgets 5 percent.
• $273,500 by reducing agency contracts.
• $250,000 by installng occupancy sensors.

Wortham said the board needs to decide within the next 10 days whether to accept his proposals or put forth ideas of their own so that work on next year’s budget can begin.

“This is Phase 1,” he said, “and I hope this will be enough. If the state comes up with more cuts to our budget, Phase 2 could get ugly.” He didn’t go into any more detail.

If you want to add your voice to the discussion, send me an email, post a comment to this article or contact one of the following school officials:

• Superintendent Ben Wortham, 284, 6500 (Green Cove Springs); 272-8100 (Orange Park/Middleburg) or 1-888-663-2529 (Keystone Heights)
• School Board member Carol Vallencourt, District 1, 264-1589
• School Board member Carol Studdard, District 2, 264-9649
• School Board chairman Charles VAn Zant Jr, District 3, 1-352-473-9609
• School Board member Frank Farrell, District 4, 375-0654
• School Board member Lisa Graham, District 5, 282-3043