OR school leaders say shutdown possible, city says not so fast (Staff reports/Oak Ridge Today) Oak Ridge school leaders said this week that the system could be forced to temporarily shut down next month if the city cannot provide $250,000 to fund the district’s budget and prevent the state from possibly pulling its $1.87 million per month in BEP—or Basic Education Plan—funding. School officials said the Oak Ridge system has failed a state maintenance of effort test that requires local funding to remain at least the same from year to year. School leaders say that after some budget adjustments, there is a $250,000 shortfall, and they say that the city covering it is the only option. It would be the equivalent of a 2.5-cent property tax rate increase. However, city officials suggest education officials are overreacting. The municipal staff said it’s not realistic to expect the state to withhold $1.87 million per month in Basic Education Program funding starting Oct. 1 simply because of a possible $250,000 shortfall. They said the Tennessee education commissioner has the discretion to withhold all or part of the BEP fund ing, if, in fact, a shortfall exists. School officials have pressed to have two special meetings of the Oak Ridge City Council and Oak Ridge Board of Education to amend budgets and cover the shortfall, all before Oct. 1. But to date, no special sessions of either body have been scheduled. School officials warned the city last year that the move to keep the $766,000 in reserve would put the school system’s budget out of balance, and they suggested it could violate maintenance-of-effort requirements. Municipal officials disagreed. City and school officials have had a series of meetings to try to resolve the funding issue. School Superintendent Bruce Borchers and Watson are in the process of setting up a meeting with state Education officials in Nashville to discuss the situation but no date for that meeting has been scheduled. Read much more about the dispute and editorials written by both Watson and Borchers at oakridgetoday.
Posted on: Wed, 11 Sep 2013 17:35:30 +0000