Putnam Schools Looking To Close Budget Gap Thursday

The Putnam County School Board will attempt to close a $6 million budget gap Thursday night.

Superintendent Jerry Boyd said last week that the board will have to look at cutting a number of planned expenditures.

“I certainly don’t want to get into a position where we do a reduction in force, but you know, if not this year, in future years that could be a reality we face without a continuing increase in the revenue,” Boyd said. “It would just be eliminating a lot of the things that have been shared with the commission.”

Boyd said that a four-percent salary and wage improvement increase for teachers could be on the chopping block. He also mentioned the possibility of cutting educational programs, new personnel, and other operational expenses.

“A lot of the cuts are new personnel needs. Those are all non-instructional personnel,” Boyd said. “Now, on the instruction side, just by meeting ratios, we’ve got to work within our budget and meet ratios. We will be adding some classroom teacher positions just based on meeting those ratios, so that’s a challenge as well.”

The Putnam County Commission has voted to allocate a little more than $2.2 million to the school system. That amount helped lower the budget gap from $8.5 million to $6.1 million.

The Putnam County Board of Education meets Thursday at 5:00 p.m.