As public school systems face budget shortfalls, the Effingham Public School System has undertaken an aggressive program to cut energy costs this year, and through various energy projects they will achieve at least a 25.67% cut in costs for the 2009-2010 year. The system retained Energy Education, Inc. beginning in 2008 to go after potential savings.
From Feb. 2008 through Dec. 2009, the system had expected to spend $4,532,437, but instead spent $3,368,803, saving $1,163,634 to date, according to Director of Administrative Services, Dr.Slade Helmly, who supervises the energy manager.
Superintendent Randy Shearouse has ordered a 40-day shutdown of the heating and cooling systems in the schools for the summer from June 5 through July 11. The buildings will not be completely without AC, however, as units will be run for dehumidifcation purposes about two hours a day to insure indoor air quality issues, according to Helmly.
Effingham’s schools will close early this year on May 14, helping to conserve, but primarily aimed at cutting personnel and bus fuel costs.
While Ad valorem property tax collection has been strong in January and February in Effingham County, the Board’s year-to-date losses for 5 months of operations as of November 30, 2009 were over $12 million in the General Fund.
The large tax collection in December and January, however, has reduced those losses by more than $10 million with 7 months of losses coming in at minus $1,987,694 in General Fund, according to the school board. The additional cost reduction steps initiated by the Superintendent, including the energy conservation program, are aimed at addressing continued reduction in funding by the Georgia Department of Education.
The five day cut from the system's academic calendar is projected to save $1.18 million in salaries, bus fuel and energy. Teachers have also been furloughed another three days during the Spring semester – the were furloughed three days during the Fall.
Overall, the Effingham schools are cutting 1.5 percent of total budget, but will still have enough instructional hours for the 2009-2010 school year to meet the State’s educational requirements.
Other Effingham School Board News
The Effingham Elementary schools have submitted their CRCT intervention plans. Implementation of plans began for all schools no later than February 22, 2010. Plans are being developed for post-administration remediation efforts for those students not meeting standards and who will retest prior to the last week of school.
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Training of all elementary school faculty that will administer the kindergarten readiness test concluded March 2, 2010. The revised test is now vertically and horizontally aligned to Pre-K, Georgia Kindergarten Inventory of Developing Skills (GKIDS) and GPS standards, respectively.
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There was a 28 percent participation rate for the parents of K-12 students that attended the February 10 and 11 parent-teacher conferences.
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