Rockdale County Public Schools reported it is facing a much larger than anticipated budget deficit of about $19.2 million after receiving preliminary estimates from the county Tax Assessor that the digest, or total value of taxable property, dropped by nearly 20 percent, rather than 4 to 9 percent as in recent years. 

Initially, the school system thought it would need to find about $14.4 million in cuts to balance the budget for the 2013-2014 school year, but received information Monday that amount would likely be much higher, said Chief Financial Officer Lee Davis at the Thursday evening school board finance committee meeting.

The size and possible impact of the deficit came into sharp focus as the committee gravely looked at a list of proposed cuts.

Some of those options included reducing five days for all employees for a savings of about $2.6 million in salaries and benefits. 

Shortening the student calendar to 160 days with a slightly longer school day, instead of the traditional 180 day student calendar, would save about $800,000 in utility, transportation and logistical costs.

A 10 percent reduction in the Central Office budget and a cut of about 20 positions, including special education consultants, from the Central Office would bring a savings of about $1.2 million.

Increasing the class size ratio by two students per teacher in middle school and by one student more per teacher in high school would save about $3 million.

Deferring the planned purchase of new math textbooks, which are in line with the Common Core Curriculum, would be savings of about $1 million.

Cutting the position of the media clerk in each school would bring a savings of about $500,000.

Some of the most drastic cuts would be eliminating non-traditional schools, such as the Open Campus, where high school students can recover credits to graduate on time, the Alpha Academy for students with disciplinary issues, and the Early Learning Center pre-K program housed at the Rockdale Career Academy. Altogether, that would be a savings of about $1.88 million.

Even if all the proposed cuts presented at the meeting were taken, there would still be a deficit of about $7.3 million, said Davis.

That amount could be paid from increasing the school portion of the property tax rate or dipping into the cash flow the school maintains.

The school board policy is to maintain at least 5 percent of the operating budget. That would allow the school system to draw the fund balance down by about $3 million, but would leave less cushion for subsequent years, which are not likely to get easier.

An increase of 1 mil in the tax rate will bring in about $1.8 million. Five years ago, a 1 mil increase would have brought in about $2.8 million. A mil is a dollar charged per every $1000 of taxable value.

The school portion of the property tax is currently 24.5 mils, the same as the previous year.  

Taking the rollback millage rate, or the property tax rate that would bring in the same amount of revenue as last year, would bring the school system to 29.7 mils and bring in about $9.35 million. 

The maximum rate the Rockdale school board can charge is 30 mils. Rockdale is one of the few counties in the state that has a waiver for the 20 mil limit normally in place for Georgia school districts.

Autry said the school system is still able to offer school choice options discussed earlier in the year, such as Memorial Middle’s Environmental Academy or the STEM program at Honey Creek Elementary, but that the budget cuts would likely slow down the future development of the specialized programs and schools.

The superintendent said school principals were briefed on the situation earlier in the week, and a memo will go out to school employees.

“So, the Titanic has hit Rockdale,” said school board member Brad Smith.

“We’re not sinking,” said Autry. “We’re not going to let that happen.” 

The RCPS cabinet will come back to the school board with a proposed budget taking into account the larger deficit, said Autry. 

The next school board meeting is Thursday, May 16, 7 p.m. at Heritage High School. A school board finance committee meeting will be at 5:30 p.m.