Devil in the details for Stafford schools POTENTIAL CUTS
School Board discusses budget
BY JEFF brANSCOME
BY JEFF brANSCOME
Some Stafford County School Board members want more specifics of Superintendent David Sawyer’s plan to reduce the division’s budget by $15.07 million.
Others think administrators should handle the nitty-gritty details.
During a budget work session yesterday, Sawyer said he’s doing his best to make sure students’ education isn’t harmed. The board hopes to approve the spending plan next Tuesday.
“The overall principle is, protect the schools first,” Sawyer said. The School Board was in agreement with most of Sawyer’s proposed cuts.
The Board of Supervisors has approved a $767,500 increase in local money for schools for the fiscal year beginning July 1. The School Board had asked for a $15.4 million increase.
The 2009-2010 budget won’t be any easier, Sawyer said.
School Board members John LeDoux and Patricia Healy asked for more information about $2.9 million in cuts to travel, purchased services and supplies. Administrators don’t yet know exactly what would be removed from those budget line items.
“These lines were chosen because that’s where the money is,” Sawyer said. About 85 percent of the school system’s budget pays for salaries and benefits.
At one point, Healy, who is the board’s chairwoman, began going through a list of new positions that aren’t on the chopping block, which includes an ESL coordinator.
Member Nanette Kidby said she’s wary of taking a piecemeal approach to the budget, and said it’s not the School Board’s job to get into specifics. Member Robert Belman agreed.
Sawyer also warned the board about getting too involved.
“Surely, this board does not want to decide by a majority vote how much money we want to spend on copiers next year,” he said. “If you do, you will be here until the Fourth of July.”
Tags: county, schools, stafford
May 12th, 2008 at 5:23 pm
I suspect they intended to suspend the people in question literally, from some place high, by their toes. At least, that would be the reasonable assumption…
May 12th, 2008 at 6:13 pm
i can finally sleep soundly tonight.
May 12th, 2008 at 7:04 pm
Steak knives are frequently small kitchen knives.It would have been more misleading had he called it a butter knife. Hmm, that gives me an idea for my next submission.
May 12th, 2008 at 7:54 pm
No jury would convict her, so it doesn’t matter. The case will get dismissed by the judge probably if it ever makes it to court. I had my school press charges against me 7 years back for some things and the court dismissed my case.
May 12th, 2008 at 8:45 pm
Aren’t they the same things essentially? - small knives with genuine uses.
May 12th, 2008 at 9:35 pm
Knowledge is power.Why do you think our school systems are in such a state?
May 12th, 2008 at 10:26 pm
You can’t have the same word in the definition of the word. That’s just poor form.
May 12th, 2008 at 11:17 pm
I’d say the members of the school board should all be allowed to save their jobs if they do the 2 following things:1) Revise school policy to define “weapon” to not include a utensil being used to eat lunch.2) Overturn the suspension and suspend the principal and teachers who reported the “infraction”.edit for typo
May 13th, 2008 at 12:07 am
They need to vote out all members of the school board.
May 13th, 2008 at 12:58 am
I hope she is charged with a felony so that she can answer “yes” to that question in every job interview she has for the rest of her life. That will teach her to use utensils.All the children should stop using utensils in lunch and leave food prints all over everything in the school.
May 13th, 2008 at 1:48 am
In the UK one legal definition of a weapon is an object that has been designed or modified to be a weapon or any other object that is used as a weapon.Which seems fair enough to me. Using a steak knife to eat with wouldn’t be a weapon under any of these definitions. UK only, mind.
May 13th, 2008 at 2:39 am
You guys are overreacting. We all know that using knives at lunch is the gateway to airliner bombings.
May 13th, 2008 at 3:29 am
Lol, indeed! I’m no lawyer but I think that’s the jist of the legal definition.
May 13th, 2008 at 4:20 am
Discretion on the part of the police: a knife is a weapon, but so is a car. A rolled piece of paper is a weapon, and a very effective one. Your watch around your knuckles is a weapon. Your pencil is a weapon.Sometimes your mind is a weapon - obviously not here.
May 13th, 2008 at 5:10 am
ok, as much as I hate zero-tolerance…AT LEAST GET THE STORY STRAIGHT!!!fta:”…but she also brought a steak knife.”your title:”…and a small kitchen knife..”