More budget cuts for Baldwin schools

BALDWIN COUNTY, Ala. - The Baldwin County School Board needs to find a way to cut another $7.5 million in expenses for the 2010 fiscal year. This comes on the heels of lay-offs and cuts.

Governor Bob Riley ordered the cuts on Tuesday.

The order for proration didn't come as a surprise, but Baldwin County school superintendent Dr. Faron Hollinger said that it came with sticker shock. He wasn't sugar-coating things when he talked to media on Wednesday.

"You know, if you asked me where we are in a crisis, on a scale from one to ten, I'll tell you that today we're probably at nine, nine and a quarter," said Dr. Hollinger.

He said the school system would have to look at new ways to generate revenue.

"We have approached our county commission about a one percent sales tax. That's certainly something we would consider again. The ideal way would probably be to look at ad-valorem and some other revenues that would be more stable during down-turns in the economy," Hollinger added.

For now, there are more changes in store. More cuts will probably be made at the administrative level, and some services will have to be consolidated.

One of the first results that parents and children will notice is changes to some bus routes and times. With even fewer buses making the rounds, some children will have to be picked up earlier in the morning, and dropped off later in the afternoon. There will also be fewer maintenance crews servicing the schools.

Dr. Hollinger calls it a crisis situation and the worst he's seen in over 30 years as an educator. If any more cuts come down this year, he warns that school programs could be the next to go.

"If that in fact does happen, then it's just obvious that extracurricular kinds of courses and programs would be the first on the block to go," said Hollinger.

He still maintains that no teachers would be laid off before the end of the school year.