Guilford County Schools Superintendent Mo Green will present his budget at tomorrow night’s school board meeting.
As the Rhino points out very well, Mo says he’s going to cut $22 million from the budget, $13 million from the central office. But while Green’s already cut 90 jobs as part of $8.9 million in classroom reductions, there’s still a “lack of details about cuts to the central office administration.”
It also looks like Green’s trying to pull a sleight of hand with his regionalization plan, counting administators getting cut as part of the plan also as budget cuts. Board member Garth Hebert says the numbers just don’t add up:
Hebert said the numbers just don’t add up, and that Green would have to lay off 185 central office administrators, at $70,000 apiece, to come up with $13.1 million in cuts. He said the $22 million figure is even harder to understand, even if you assume that the school system could save $2 million by putting off buying textbooks.
“Twenty million is a representation of at least 500 employees,” Hebert said. “If you’re redirecting 500 employees, tell me what that means. I don’t know.”
…..Hebert said that Green was asking the school board members to take too much on faith until Green’s April 7 budget presentation.
Hebert said, “We’re going to be given that budget at the last minute, asked to approve it and not given the details of it.”
I just don’t see 185 central office employees losing their jobs. It will be interesting to see what kind of numbers Mo flashes in front of the board. I would hope that they’d ask some hard questions this time, but —with the exception of Hebert —- this board is quickly becoming infamous for signing off on Green’s policies practically without question.
