Camden school board approves budget

The Camden school board gave final approval last night to a nearly $361 million budget that shaves staff positions but doesn't cut district programs.

District business administrator David Shafter told the board before last night's vote that the 2009-10 budget sheds 90 positions, 46 of which are vacant, ranging from custodians to vice principals. The district also plans to cut the food-service deficit by about $1 million by making students who don't qualify for free or reduced-price lunches pay for their meals.

Shafter said the total budget was down $1.8 million from the current year and represented an overall decrease in state aid of $1.18 million.

The district will also have to pay $3.9 million more in aid to charter schools because of those schools' increased enrollments.

Not in the budget is about $8 million in federal stimulus money that Shafter said would come to the district soon. He said that money would be "highly regulated" and he won't budget it until he knows exactly how much the district will get and what limitations there are on using the money.

In the public hearing before the vote, activist Lola Moore said the district had had reduced enrollments, and she urged officials to look at cutting more positions, especially those with "six-figure salaries."

However, she disagreed with the teacher cuts in the budget. "The one area we should not reduce is teachers, because teachers teach kids," Moore said.

Superintendent B. LeFra Young said the district had done a staff audit. She admitted that at times there had been classes with one teacher "sitting around with two students or five students." She said that would not continue.

On April 21, Camden residents will vote on the school tax. Shafter said there would be no increase in taxes and likely a slight decrease in the rate. The budget voted on last night was similar to the one the board tentatively approved a few weeks ago.