BAMBERG -- The Bamberg School District 1 Board of Trustees Monday night gave second-reading approval to a proposed $11.6 million budget for fiscal year 2003-2004 which includes the elimination of six teachers and an eight-mill tax increase.

While the proposed budget does not include closing Ehrhardt Elementary School, it does include a proposed increase of $97,160 in total spending as a result of four amendments made during a two-and-a-half-hour meeting at Ehrhardt Elementary School.

"We are presenting to the board tonight a budget that is balanced ... That is not to say that the board will not request and ask us to make changes, but we are presenting a balanced budget," Superintendent Phyllis Schwarting said.

An increase in the maintenance and repair budget from $75,000 to $100,000 and an increase in the maintenance supply budget from $60,000 to $70,000 were among the amendments made to the $11,622,852 budget.

The district also decreased its budgeted telephone expenses to $30,000. That bill in the past has been as high as $41,000 annually. Schwarting said the district has usually been reimbursed for 90 percent of telephone costs through federal Schools and Libraries Division money. She said the expense was budgeted because the district has to be able to pick up the cost should the federal funds be discontinued.

Schwarting said the district also added $46,000 to the budget to send 32 students to the Cope Area Career Center in Orangeburg Consolidated School District 4 for vocational training. She said "new federal mandates" that have been passed down to Job Corps centers nationwide, including Bamberg Job Corps, made it difficult to resume a reciprocal agreement with that agency.

Following talks with OCSD4 Superintendent Dr. Sandra Tonnsen, Schwarting said the district agreed to lower its per-student price from the more than $8,000 BSD1 was paying last year to $3,000 to send students to the CACC. Schwarting said the district is saving more than $5,000 per student, at a total cost savings of $70,000.

Where did the financially-strapped district get the money to make the amendments?

Schwarting said the district opted to increase its levy for current operations -- the money which residents living in BSD1 will pay in property taxes -- by five additional mills.

School districts are mandated by the Education Improvement Act to provide a local maintenance-of-effort, or per-pupil spending beyond what the state is proposing to allocate this year at a base student cost of $1,643. Schwarting said the increase was warranted to help balance the budget and provide for each child as mandated by law.

The district had already included a three-mill tax increase, the least amount allowed by local legislation without a referendum. That millage increase is slated to generate $48,822.

Schwarting said the five-mill increase will generate an additional $81,370.

"We added that money ... in hopes that we would be able to make it through the year," she said, noting that a reduction in average daily membership of 50 students per year hasn't helped.

The district had lost as much as $182,000 to ADM reduction based on a base student cost of $1,854. Now, with an even lower base student cost of $1,643, the district stands to lose approximately $125,000. The only cushion left is $57,000, of which $38,000 has been placed into the budget to help balance it.

"So we have about a $20,000 cushion in an $11 million budget. It's dangerous, very dangerous. If we get any cuts next year ... the only area that we have to cut is personnel. We have cut all non-personnel discretionary funds (which includes teacher supplies) as deeply as they can be cut," Schwarting said.

"We are not losing children to private school; we are not losing children for any reason other than there's simply not as many children being born in this area. We are feeling the effects of that in our school district because a significant portion of money (approximately $3 million) comes from EFA funding," the superintendent said. The district's second EFA funding cut this school year totaled $155,000 alone.

Schwarting said the closure of Ehrhardt Elementary, which serves approximately 85 students, would save the district approximately $40,000. She said further budget cuts during the 2003-2004 may force the district to close the school mid year.

Trustee Dr. Dale Padgett moved to add an amendment to close EES as part of the second reading of the budget. His amendment was voted down by Trustees Sheri Seigler, Donald Mallory, Gregory Bamberg and Chairman John Bamberg just before unanimous second-reading approval was given to the budget.

Padgett said the state's gloomy budget forecast for next year warranted the closure of the school, which he said seems imminent anyway. He said it would be less destructive to close the Ehrhardt school now rather than close it in the middle of the year.

"The current district budget that leaves Ehrhardt Elementary open has required the district staff to use every available penny to balance the budget. Cuts have been made in critical areas, and everything must go extremely well next year for us to survive. I am not optimistic," Padgett said, reading from a prepared statement.

"Information coming out of Columbia indicates the worst budget we received in 25 years faces the strong possibility of being cut further after school starts next year. Closing Ehrhardt now would allow us to reinstate the art program at the high school that serves almost 90 students ... We have to think about all of our students," he said.

Schwarting said six teachers had already been affected by the reduction-in-force policy, with three already having found jobs in Allendale County. She said the district is working with the remaining three to find jobs.

"... This is a tough year. Everyone has to be willing to give up something," Schwarting said.

The Bamberg School District 1 Board of Trustees will hold its next meeting at 7:30 p.m. Monday, June 23, at Richard Carroll Primary School. The budget is expected to receive final third reading at that meeting.

T&D Staff Writer Dionne Gleaton can be reached by e-mail at dgleaton@timesanddemocrat.com or by phone at 803-533-5534.

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