Berkeley schools lose $3 million

The Berkeley County School District lost another $3 million in the latest round of state budget cuts.

Brantley Thomas, the district's director of finance, told the school board Tuesday that the cut, which the state announced last month, is for the current school year. The district will compensate for it by placing a hiring freeze on all central office staff; increasing safety measures that will in turn reduce insurance premiums; using mobile units more efficiently to cut energy costs; and strictly enforcing staff members' budget allocations. The district also will cut school maintenance budgets by 25 percent and cut all other nonsalary budgets by 15 percent, Thomas said.

In the 2008-09 school year, he said, the state cut the public education budget five times for a total of $12 million.

The district will receive money from the federal stimulus program, Thomas said. But even with those funds, the amount of money for each student, known as the base student cost, is $2,210. That's the amount the district received in the 2005-06 school year, he said.

And since that year, the district's costs have increased, Thomas said. There have been state-mandated salary increases, and the cost for employee benefits has gone up.

It's getting tough to keep the cuts from affecting the classroom, he said. But the district is committed to minimizing the impact on students.

Dorchester District 2 leaders said the most recent state cut took $4 million from their budget. The district will compensate for the cuts mostly by putting in place a hiring freeze and cutting the per-pupil amount the district gives each school.

Charleston County School District officials said they are still waiting to learn the specific amount of their cut. But they will cover the shortfall with money from the district's emergency fund.