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Help save "rainy day" fund
Editorial
Word from Montgomery is that proration is coming, and some suspect it could be as much as 8 percent. For Lawrence County schools, that amounts to a cut of nearly $3 million from state funds.
The real question is, what is the real proration number we are facing? The state’s “rainy day” fund, designed to protect public education from drastic, devastating revenue shortfalls, is on next Tuesday’s election ballot for reauthorization by the public.
We need to ensure it makes the grade.
Your Nov. 4 ballot will have a Constitutional Amendment regarding this fund. It’s an effort to protect public education funding AND protect the state’s general fund in the process. You see, when money is drawn against the fund, the legislature is required to pay it back in future budgets.
This amendment not only sets the amount of the rainy day fund to 6.5 percent of the previous year’s education budget, but it gives the state legislature up to six years to repay any funds withdrawn. That means education (and along with every other state service) is protected from the most severe budget crunches.
Why do we need a rainy day fund? Look at Lawrence County schools. The rainy day fund is designed to ease the burden of proration. Once the governor declares proration, the fund is opened. Before any local school district is forced to dip into its own reserves or make drastic cuts to programs and services, rainy day funds are allocated.
In effect, the rainy day fund cushions the blow of proration, possibly cutting its effect from 8 percent to maybe 3 percent.
For Lawrence County, the difference is significant.
Our school system maintains a reserve of about $3.5 million, roughly one month’s operating budget. This is a fiscally responsible minimum reserve. But Lawrence County schools has an additional $1.7 million in reserve, for which outgoing Superintendent Dexter Rutherford, the school board and the entire district should be commended.
Our schools can withstand a proration of about 5 percent, thanks to that extra $1.7 million cushion. A deeper proration means dipping into the district’s one-month operating balance and/or slashing programs and services.
There is no doubt proration is coming this year (and probably next). A sound rainy day fund protects our children — and our teachers.
The real question is, what is the real proration number we are facing? The state’s “rainy day” fund, designed to protect public education from drastic, devastating revenue shortfalls, is on next Tuesday’s election ballot for reauthorization by the public.
We need to ensure it makes the grade.
Your Nov. 4 ballot will have a Constitutional Amendment regarding this fund. It’s an effort to protect public education funding AND protect the state’s general fund in the process. You see, when money is drawn against the fund, the legislature is required to pay it back in future budgets.
This amendment not only sets the amount of the rainy day fund to 6.5 percent of the previous year’s education budget, but it gives the state legislature up to six years to repay any funds withdrawn. That means education (and along with every other state service) is protected from the most severe budget crunches.
Why do we need a rainy day fund? Look at Lawrence County schools. The rainy day fund is designed to ease the burden of proration. Once the governor declares proration, the fund is opened. Before any local school district is forced to dip into its own reserves or make drastic cuts to programs and services, rainy day funds are allocated.
In effect, the rainy day fund cushions the blow of proration, possibly cutting its effect from 8 percent to maybe 3 percent.
For Lawrence County, the difference is significant.
Our school system maintains a reserve of about $3.5 million, roughly one month’s operating budget. This is a fiscally responsible minimum reserve. But Lawrence County schools has an additional $1.7 million in reserve, for which outgoing Superintendent Dexter Rutherford, the school board and the entire district should be commended.
Our schools can withstand a proration of about 5 percent, thanks to that extra $1.7 million cushion. A deeper proration means dipping into the district’s one-month operating balance and/or slashing programs and services.
There is no doubt proration is coming this year (and probably next). A sound rainy day fund protects our children — and our teachers.
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