The Bremen City Board of Education has approved the school system’s general budget for the 2010 fiscal year. The decision was finalized in a called meeting last Thursday that trailed behind a string of preliminary sessions over the past few weeks intended to ensure a cost-effective budget.

After undergoing several last-minute austerity cuts like other state school districts this year, Bremen City Schools Superintendent Stanley McCain reported “this [2010] budget calls for a balanced budget with expenditures and revenues of $14,792,133.” He said 70 percent is proposed to be spent on instruction, which mainly consists of teacher salaries and benefits. Other areas include supplies, such as textbooks and classroom technology.

In an effort to make quality instruction the system’s top priority, McCain said the school board previously approved the purchase of instructional equipment at a cost of $154,584, which came out of the general fund for next year. In addition, they’ve already approved the installation of Promethean interactive whiteboards in almost every elementary and high school classroom to better engage students during daily lessons.

The school board was advised that the Homestead Tax reimbursement had been received from the state and additional taxes from the city and automobile taxes from Haralson County has also been received this month.

“The board currently has received $3,131,592 in taxes with projected tax receipts budgeted for $3,120,000. This is budgeted as part of tax funds,” McCain said.

In other business, the school board also approved the renewal of a contract with Georgia-based vending company Elite Vending Co. Vending has held a long-time contract with Bremen High School and will continue to provide snacks and other goods throughout next school year.

The school board accepted the hiring of a special education paraprofessional at BHS and a custodian at Jones Elementary. They approved the opening of a new seventh-grade teacher position at Bremen Middle School to accommodate new enrollees and to relieve some of the class size overloads. A counseling practicum was also authorized for BMS.

McCain later shared the latest allotment sheet for fiscal year 2009 with the board after the short notice of a reduction in funds from the state due to lowered revenue projections this year.

“This allotment sheet indicates $610,310 in austerity adjustments which was originally projected at $105,000 by the state before the downturn in the economy, and additional austerity adjustments were made on revenue for the system by the state,” he said.

Meanwhile, the school system confirmed receipt of $201,323 in stabilization funds from the state for the current fiscal year, along with a several thousand-dollar allotment to put toward Title I (special needs) and IDEA (economically-challenged) programs for next year. So far, McCain reports that the school district has seen more than $2 million in austerity adjustments since 2001.

“Right now we’re in good shape for 2010, but if we continue to get cuts the way we did last (fiscal) year, things could get very serious in the next few months,” McCain said.