Board members met last Wednesday with Superintendent Dr. John Long and Chief Financial Officer Pam Frazier to comb through next year's budget for funds for teacher raises. A detailed, line-by-line study revealed that tough choices will have to be made for the future. The promised 9.2 percent raise would cost the district approximately $1.25 million, according to Frazier. Due to the economic uncertainty, the necessary funds are no longer available, school officials say. Also, judging from past economic hardships, Long predicted that recovery of state funding levels could take four to six years. "If we want to give teachers more than a 3 percent raise, we have to cut somewhere," board member Beth Banze said. Fellow board member Teresa Scott agreed, noting that "for every $135,000 we can cut we can move a percent up on salary." That is no simple task, Long pointed out. "The problem with making cuts is that about 70 percent of the district's $28 million budget is spent on people. So you have 30 percent left. When you factor in fixed expenses such as buses and utilities, there's very little truly discretionary money to come up with," Long said. "On a $28 million budget, to come up with $1 million without firing or not hiring is almost impossible," he added. District administrators, board members and teachers will have to come up with a new plan of action for next year's raises. There are five basic options for budgetary savings: * Pay administrators one-half of the average raise of faculty and staff for an approximate savings of $30,000; * Change options on health insurance plans for a savings of about $100,000; * Make cuts in costs for travel and substitute teachers for a savings of about $50,000; * Use current assistant principals for summer school, as opposed to hiring temporary administrators for a savings of about $50,000 * Raise the tax levy 2 to 3 cents. The lower raise for administrators was recommended by Scott, who noted, "if you compare state averages, you see that our administrators are paid 7 percent below the state average, while our teachers are about 16 percent less than the state average. So you may be able to give administrators a lower amount and lessen that gap." Changing health insurance options would save the district about $100,000 - and only a small minority of people would experience a change in benefits, school officials said. "The insurance trust estimates that 90 percent of employees would not be affected by proposed changes; 10 percent it will affect," Long said. Noting that the school district budgets $195,184 for substitute teachers and $131,824 for travel expenses, Scott questioned whether budgets for those items could be trimmed with some simple schedule changes. "If we could, between those two, save $50,000, that is a half-percent raise," Scott said. Schowe explained that many school districts require assistant principals to oversee summer school classes. He said that several other districts save money this way. "All you would have to do would be to adjust their time off," he said. "The amount of time off would be the same, just the dates would change." Schowe stressed that the board wants to work closely with teachers to put together a new plan for district raises. "When we make the decision on what we are going to do, I want the majority involved to agree on the best option," Schowe said. Steve McDowell, co-president of the Warrenton Education Association, a local branch of the National Education Association, emphasized that teachers want to work together with the school board and administrators to find the best financial options for the students of the district. "We understand the economic times," McDowell said. "We have been waiting to see what money would be available next year from the state and from the stimulus package to begin the negotiating process," he said. "We want to work together as a team with the administrators and board members to make the district the best possible for the kids," he added.