KRISTIN MAMRACK

Columbus Commercial Dispatch

COLUMBUS, Miss. (AP) — Lowndes County schools won’t see their usual fleet of new buses this year. Columbus city school buses soon may be owned and operated by an outside company.

Students will have fewer field trips; teachers will attend fewer workshops.

And when it comes to cutting salaries, support staff is first on the chopping block.

In these economic times, local school districts are in the business of saving money.

As a cost-saving measure, the Lowndes County School District and the Columbus Municipal School District have joined forces to provide alternative schooling.

The county previously sent students to the Quad County Alternative School in Starkville, but now is using the alternative school in Columbus, a move which means “enormous savings,” said county schools Superintendent Mike Halford.

“It has saved me, per child, and the mileage of going into Starkville each day,” Halford said. “It’s a win-win for myself and for (Columbus schools superintendent Del) Phillips. And it frees up some money for him (no longer) solely funding the alternative school.”

Phillips said the city school system has taken other steps to cut costs.

“We have been diligent over the last two years to make our system more efficient,” he said. “Several steps during that period have reduced our overall operating cost and bolstered our bottom line position to support the classroom. As always, we promote efficiency in the system, so we can direct as many dollars as possible to the classroom.”

Columbus has reduced support staff and non-classroom teachers, through attrition, a move which reduces “labor costs (and increases) the efficiency, per worker, in the system,” Phillips said.

“We have reduced the administrators in the system, especially central office administrators, by reassigning central office staff to building-level openings caused by attrition or combining job responsibilities when someone leaves a central office position,” he said.

The district has outsourced its food operation to Aramark “to generate a better product for our students, as well as produce a cost savings to the district,” and Columbus is reviewing bids to outsource transportation services, Phillips said.

The county schools’ transportation system is one area where changes have been made.

“In past years, we have tried to rotate our buses out and we’re not going to budget for the (new) buses in 2009-2010,” Halford said. “We are going to order one bus, but it’s simply to replace a bus (which was) wrecked. We’ve tried to improve our fleet of maintenance vehicles, but we’ve taken (new ones) out of the budget.

“In the last couple years, we’ve done some significant athletic improvements, but there’s been very little money above the regular athletic programs (this year),” he said, noting no new athletic facility improvements are planned for this year.

The only major construction project in the district is repairing damage — from a January 2008 tornado — at the Caledonia schools campus.

Halford said other cost-saving measures has been discussed with local principals.

“If the money is not there, we knew we’d need to cut (the service). If we’re getting (federal) stimulus money now, all we’re doing is pushing the shortfall back another year. We have a plan if we’re fully funded, but we also have a plan if we need to make cuts.

“What we’re trying to do in Lowndes County is look and make the cuts we need and protect the core classroom,” he said. “We’ve had multiple requests (to add elective courses), but when you do that, you need additional teachers. We’re protecting the classroom first, at the expense of fringes.”

In the Oktibbeha County, schools Superintendent James R. Covington Jr. said they are cutting back on field trips and professional travel.

“We have realized a savings this year in our fuel budget, because gas prices are down this year, compared to last year. We are constantly monitoring purchases, only purchasing those items that are a must. Other (items), we postpone them.”

“We are evaluating all physical operations for cost savings,” said Starkville School District Superintendent Judy Couey. “We are committed to keeping all instructional staff, but are examining add-ons closely. Supplements, additional duties and overtime in the personnel area will be reviewed. As employees resign, retire or leave the district, we are seeing if jobs can be combined or eliminated through attrition.”

Trying to save money is an old business for the West Point School District, which this year, was cut by $500,000 in Mississippi Adequate Education Program funds, said schools Superintendent Steve Montgomery, adding officials don’t plan to cut any teachers or staff positions.

“This being business as usual for us, we have put a hold on some projects we were planning to do as far as building projects or renovations. We’ve put a hold on some of those things, for now, to see what the funding is going to be for next year.

“We’re not going to add any new positions. We’ve had a few positions, where people have retired, that we’re just going to absorb and not replace those people right now. We’re just trying to hold what we’ve got and not spend for extra things, until we find out what the Legislature is going to do this year,” Montgomery said.

The incoming federal funds will help alleviate the impact of state revenue shortfalls, but state legislators and education administrators have in recent weeks been trying to get a better handle on how much money there is and what the rules are for spending it.