Florence District 1 superintendent warns of more budget cuts

FLORENCE — Florence School District 1 Superintendent Larry Jackson informed members of the board of trustees of the potential for more budget cuts before the end of the school year and that school district officials are working hard to develop a plan to address those cuts.

“We want to assure our employees (and) our parents that, I believe, we’re going to make some very good decisions, but some of them are going to be challenging decisions,” Jackson said. “We believe we will do the best that we can to try and maintain the instructional integrity of this school district.”

Luther Rabon, chief financial officer for the district, said at least two more cuts in state funds are anticipated this spring.

There potentially could be one cut as early as March and another one in May.

Jackson said district officials haven’t been reactionary and do not want to “be premature” in their actions, so the district has been working internally with staff on trying to develop a plan to handle future budget cuts.

Jackson said he wanted the public to know the district isn’t sitting there idly.

“Everyone knows we’re going to have to make some tough decisions ... we need to make decisions that are based on principle and not on popularity,” he said. “When you cut $5½ million out of the budget, and then project additional cuts on top of that, that’s a challenge for a school district to continue to operate.”

School officials are getting closer to having a plan and will likely be able to present it once the board begins its budget process for the next year.

Jackson said Florence 1 is probably “second to none in the state, in terms of where we are in our finances.”

“The reason why the board and this district is solvent is because of the action this board has taken over the years to put us in a strong position financially,” he said.

In other business, Rabon presented a report on the district’s 500 (building) fund for the board to review.

Dr. Erik Lowry, assistant superintendent for personnel, briefly discussed contract renewals for 1,166 employees.

So far, district officials have received about 30 resignations.
The contracts presented Thursday do not represent all the employees in the district.
The board deferred action on the district’s audit report until a called meeting Feb. 26.
The meeting will begin at 7 p.m. in the district office’s John T. Sullivan Board Room.