Furloughs for state employees, further money problems at the state level will impact local schools
Financial woes are continuing for Jackson County School System, School Finance Officer Gwen Edwards told Board of Education members last night
“Two weeks ago due to a cash flow emergency at the state level, the state of North Carolina required that spending from state funds be approved for only mandatory obligations such as payroll, utilities and that sort of thing,” Edwards said. “It’s difficult to say how exactly this is going to affect Jackson County Public schools, but I do estimate that we will lose the ability to spend approximately $200,000 from the state funds.”
According to Edwards, the N.C. Office of Budget Management estimates that the state budget short fall may exceed $3 billion for the current fiscal year.
“In response, today (Tuesday, April 28) Gov. Bev Perdue signed executive order 11 which will reduce all teacher’s and state employee’s compensation for an annualized amount equivalent of .5 percent over the remainder of the fiscal year. Full time employees will be credited with 10 hours of flexible time off and non-full time employees will receive a prorated share of flexible time off. All employees of Jackson County schools are considered to be state employees so this is going to effect every employee of Jackson County schools.”
