Governor Haley Barbour announced last week that education funding was being slashed, and Tate County's two school districts have not been spared.

According to a release from the Mississippi Department of Education, 5% budget cuts were made to the Mississippi Adequate Education Program (MAEP) and Education Enhancement Funds (EEF).

State law requires the state's budget to be balanced, and authorizes the governor to make cuts of up to 5% to make that happen. Education spending makes up 60% of the state budget.

"We simply don't have enough revenue to meet our budgeted expenditures for FY 2010, much less Fiscal Years 2011 or 2012," Gov. Barbour said last week in a press release. "While future budget years are of grave concern, state leaders must first and foremost take responsible actions to reign in spending for the current fiscal year, FY 2010. That means cuts to all of state government - including education, which accounts for more than 60 percent of total state spending," he added.

"Although we struggled very hard last year to spare education from the budget axe, and were successful to a large extent, Mississippi cannot control spending without addressing the largest line item of our budget: education," Governor Barbour said.

School districts also received funding cuts in the last budget year, which were also chalked up to falling sales tax revenues. Such cuts helped force the Tate County School District to seek financial assistance from the state earlier this year, and enter into a fiscal conservatorship.

Tate County's original MAEP allocation was $14,960,044. This month's cuts have taken away $689,443 from that amount, leaving an allocation of $14,270,601 for the district.

Senatobia Municipal Schools, which is much smaller than the Tate County district, was originally allocated $8,589,366 from MAEP. That amount has been cut by $396,469, to a new total of $8,192,897.

EEF monies were cut as well. In Tate County, the original Buildings and Buses allocation of $94,629 was cut by $6,429 to $88,200; Instructional Supply funds were cut from $46,141 to $43,834; and the Ad Valorem Reduction Grant amount was reduced from $288,344 to $243,927.

Senatobia's EEF Buildings and Buses funds went down from $56,288 to $56,238, a reduction of only $50. However, the district's Instructional Supply funds were cut from $27,446 to $26,074, and Ad Valorem Reduction Grant amount fell from $169,479 to $161,005.

The local school districts have been bracing for these cuts, which they have been told were coming.

Senatobia has yet to make any cuts to their programs, according to Superintendent Michael Hood.

"At this point we are in the planning stages," he said. "I have assigned each department the task of looking at areas they could work around if cuts are mandated. At this point, we do not plan on any cuts, but are planning just in case it becomes necessary," he added.

Tate County Superintendent Gary Walker said that no cuts were imminent, and that his district, like many others, had only budgeted 95% of the money that the state had promised because of looming cuts.

"We are thankful that we budgeted the way we did," he said.

The main repercussion at this point, he said, was that instead of having a positive fund equity at the end of this fiscal year, the district would be at least $250,000 in the red.

That shortfall will also delay by at least another year the district beginning to repay the state for funds borrowed in the last fiscal year.

There are federal stimulus funds, he added, but those could only be used for specific programs - like Title I and Special Education - not paying teacher salaries or utility bills.

"If the economy improves, they may restore that funding, but we are fearful of another cut," Walker said.

The state has warned that if revenues continue to fall short of expectations, more cuts may be coming.

Email News Editor Melissa Turner

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