School funds to be short despite plan, State schools Superintendent Sandy Garrett says

State schools Superintendent Sandy Garrett emphasized to the state Board of Education that the education budget will fall about $50 million short, despite $172 million in emergency funding aimed at "keeping education whole.”

"That’s far from the truth,” Garrett said Thursday of claims that education would be shielded from cuts. "Unless you call over $50 million held harmless.”

Two sources of education funding remain intact, but a third source, called "school programs,” will have a 7.5 percent cut in funding that will affect teacher insurance contributions, alternative education, Advanced Placement programs and any other funding set aside from the general funds, said James White, assistant state superintendent of finance.

The Education Department’s two largest allocations — the 1017 fund and state aid — will not receive any cuts under the current budget agreement being considered by the Legislature, White said.

Budget issues

White said the good news is that school districts will begin to see increased payments for state aid in the coming months that will help prevent the furloughs and layoffs that some districts were forced to start planning when the cuts began.

The state Board of Education made a supplemental budget request Thursday for $1.1 million to reimburse school districts for taxes the districts paid this year on teacher bonuses.

Every year, National Board Certified teachers receive $5,000 bonuses.

In previous years, White said the bonus checks were given directly to teachers, and it was the responsi-bility of those individuals to declare the money as income on their taxes.

But the Internal Revenue Service ruled that the state needed to include the bonuses in the teachers’ salaries, White said.

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