If recent federal education grant withholdings continue, Gilmer County Schools (GCS) would go into the school year without nearly $550,000.
“That’s going to be a problem,” GCS Superintendent Dr. Brian Ridley said.
Federal funds make up roughly 11 percent of the school district’s total operating budget, he said.
And GCS doesn’t have much budget to spare. About 80 percent of the school’s expenses are salaries, Ridley said.
“We run a pretty lean ship,” he said. “We’ll have to have some hard conversations.”
The federal funds withheld go to teacher trainings, teacher stipends, salaries and benefits for support positions, materials and after school and academic support positions, he said.
Although this situation could be bad, Ridley said he hopes the school will get the federal money for this year eventually.
The Trump administration notified states June 30 that it would withhold more than $6 billion in educational grants to schools.
Congress has already set the funds aside for schools, Ridley said. But this decision delays their release.
“We’re a little concerned about the timeline because these funds were supposed to be released on July 1,” he said. “We got word of it on June 30, after we’ve already set budgets, hired, made plans for this money.”
If the funds aren’t released, hard decisions are on the horizon, he said.
It’s not likely that GCS will have to lay off many teachers, Ridley said.
Some of its staff are older and plan to retire soon, he said. But when they do, GCS won’t hire new staff in their place.
“Anytime we’ve had to deal with cuts, we’ve dealt with them through attrition more than anything else,” Ridley said.
GCS uses federal funding to fulfill federal requirements.
Even if the money goes away, the requirements don’t, he said.
The schools will still have to support migrant education programs, English language learning programs and special education, Ridley said.
Although they sound like they involve immigration, federal migrant programs cover children whose parents move around because of work, he said.
“Those funds are typically used to support the children of a lot of agricultural workers,” Ridley said.
As of now, GCS still has reasons to hope the money will arrive.
“If we don’t get this money, we might have to tighten our belt in some uncomfortable ways,” Ridley said.