LUMBERTON —The Board of Education will have even more to discuss during its special meeting Wednesday after the financial woes of the Public Schools of Robeson County have garnered the attention of the state Board of Education, Department of Public Instruction and the Local Government Commission.

The local school board is to meet at 6 p.m. in the Central Office building on Kahn Drive to discuss personnel matters, reportedly related to the nonrenewal of 30 administrative personnel contracts. Because the meeting will take place largely held behind closed doors, The Robesonian will not live stream it on its Facebook page.

The county board and Superintendent Shanita Wooten have received a letter of concern from the state Board of Education about the school district’s $2 million deficit. It also notes that DPI and the Local Government Commission have not received the 2017-18 audit, which was due several months ago. School officials blame Hurricane Florence for the delay. The commission works with local governments to ensure their financial well-being.

The letter was expected, because it is a response to a letter from Wooten and six school board members “requesting that the State Board of Education and the Department of Public Instruction provide the district with technical assistance.”

“The state board says they want to meet with the superintendent, Vice Chairman John Campbell and me,” said school board Chairman Mike Smith. “The school board expects to meet Wednesday and Thursday, and, unless something changes, we’ll hear appeals from the people who were notified their contracts would not be renewed.”

The state board zeroed in on staffing levels as a cause of the deficit in Robeson County.

The state attributes overspending to “declining average daily membership since 2015 and projected ADM declines in the upcoming school year have reduced certain allotments provided to PSRC, but the board and district leaders have not made adequate spending adjustments to address these changes,” the state letter states.

“The district’s current and projected staffing levels account for a significant percentage of PSRC’s financial obligations and place the district’s budget at risk, and proceeds from insurance funds are presently being used to cover operating expenses.”

The school system expects to have more than a thousand fewer students at the beginning of the next school year than it had for the 2015-2016 school year. Hurricane Matthew is blamed for much of the exodus as people lost homes and relocated.

In the face of the mounting deficit and facing a May 1 deadline to inform staff of nonrenewal of their contracts, Wooten sent letters to 30 employees advising them their contracts would not be renewed. She did that so the system would meet a state law, but the decision is up to the full board.

“The superintendent makes a recommendation to the full board for action,” Wooten said. “If there is a recommendation for nonrenewal, the superintendent must notify administrators by May 1.

“Boards can go with the recommendation of the superintendent, or they can choose to renew contracts. The goal for the board is to notify employees by June 1 of their decision.

“The board is going to truly have to decide what their next steps are,” Wooten added. “We need to discuss shifting students and making cuts. All that needs to be worked out relatively quickly, so they can decide about contracts.

“I knew it wasn’t going to be easy or popular, but we could not continue spending at the same levels. Everyone who received the letter still has a job, but we simply just can’t afford to renew all contracts if we are still working to determine the best course of action.”

With the 2019-20 budget pending, time is short. The school system has still not made a budget request to the Robeson County Board of Commissioners, which finalizes its budget in advance of July 1.

One of the wildcards facing the system in trying to determine its workforce is the possibility of the closure of some schools and shifting students, which some board members favor in trying to reduce staff. But the board has gained very little traction in consolidating schools, beyond a concensus that it would probably begin in the southern part of the county where enrollment has declined the most.

Smith
https://www.robesonian.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/web1_Smith-Mike-1.jpgSmith

Wooten
https://www.robesonian.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/web1_Wooten-Shanita-1.jpgWooten

Scott Bigelow

Staff writer

Reach Scott Bigelow at 910-644-4497 or [email protected].