Local education officials said this morning it's too early to guess at how much public education will be affected by Gov. Mike Huckabee's call for $142 million in budget cuts.
"The specifics we don't have yet," said Pat Flanagin, fiscal officer for the Forrest City School District. "But there's nothing good that's going to come out of it."
Huckabee blamed the Sept. 11 terror attacks for steepening a drop in an already slowing economy. He also suggested students join the military to combat the effects of an economic slide.
Flanagin said this morning the cuts could potentially cost the district hundreds of thousands of dollars, dollars that school districts thought they were going to be getting. He also said people should remember that cuts had begun before the Sept. 11 attacks.
"There was discussion and concern by those of us in education and also in the legislature, as to whether revenues were being over-projected, and whether we would get into a situation like we are, where you're promised one thing and when it comes delivery time, it's not there," said Flanagin. He also said that some suggested solutions, such as reducing the number of teachers and increasing class size, might not be workable immediately.
"We (school districts) don't have the option to reduce positions in the middle of a contract period," he said. "It may be a real challenge to make ends meet this year, even if no raises are given."
He said the perspective from the state is different. "The perspective from the state, of course, is, if people aren't paying taxes because they don't have jobs or aren't buying things, the state is not going to spend more than it can take in because of the Revenue Stabilization Act. The state can simply say, all the money we promised to schools or health departments or human services, we're cutting back. And if you based your budget on the promise, that's your tough luck."
He said it reminded him of a time when he was in the state Legislature, in 1979, when teachers were promised a raise of $1,200 a year for two years. That promise was followed by a revenue shortfall.
Flanagin said school districts with surpluses might be able to get by.
Burl Lieblong, president of Crowley's Ridge Technical Institute, said technical education may not be hit as hard a some others this year, but may receive a bigger hit next year if the recession continues.
"The way it happens is, they take away what's in Allotment B. But we didn't have anything in Allotment B," he said. "We think our impact will be minimal."
He said cuts in other allotments will be spread out over many agencies.
"Next year could have more of an impact," Lieblong said. "When we get to the next fiscal year, we don't have a feel for what that will do to us...We hope that the economy will turn around next year."
Coy Grace, president of East Arkansas Community College, said as far as he knew, no amounts have been settled.
"The word we have had is that there would be percentage cuts, but we received that possibility way back when the allocations were made in Category B funding," Grace said. "We were advised at that time to build contingencies in our budgets in case cuts were made.
''Category B'' spending is second-tier spending that is made only after Arkansas' top budget items are funded. Second-tier funding includes items like college scholarships, new prison beds and many optional human services.
"Our school did build in some contingencies into our budget to allow for any possible cuts," Grace said. "So, I believe we're covered at this point. I don't know what the future will hold, and whether or not the cuts will be more than we budgeted, but I believe we are in pretty good shape."
In other budget cutting news, Dina Tyler, spokeswoman for the state Department of Correction, said losing $21.6 million earmarked for managing the bulging prison population would leave 356 new prison beds unfilled, no money to pay counties for holding state prisoners and no pay enhancements that were planned to entice new correctional officers.
Today in Little Rock, legislators chided the state fiscal officer this morning for presenting a plan of $142 million in cuts to the state budget just a year after they warned that the administration's revenue forecast was too rosy.
"'I presume you've come today to throw yourself at the mercy of the Legislature and declare that obviously legislators knew what they were talking about,'' said Sen. John Riggs IV, D-Little Rock.
''I hope that everyone who knew that terrorists were going to fly an airplane into the World Trade Center would have let us know in advance so we could have factored that into our forecast,'' state finance director Dick Barclay retorted.
The governor has ruled out any tax increase.
A tax increase would be burdensome to Arkansans already struggling with a steep downturn in the economy, Barclay added.
''It's just not the time to be discussing raising revenue,'' he said.
Barclay said state agencies would receive notice Thursday of the revenue projections, and the agencies would have two weeks to report on what specific cuts they plan in response.
By KENDALL OWENS
T-H Staff Writer
Forrest City will play host this weekend to an Arkansas Black Mayors Conference. The event will be held at the Forrest City Civic Center on Friday and Saturday, according to Forrest City Mayor Larry Bryant.
Bryant said this weekend's conference will give area black mayors an opportunity to discuss problems and situations unique to mayors, black mayors in particular.
"This conference will give us a chance to try and collaborate with each other on problems that we see as mayors and black mayors in particular. We're trying to come together to work on problems that are facing our communities and wanting to see what we can learn so that we can help all of the citizens of our cities," said Bryant.
According to Bryant, who also serves as president of the ABM, this weekend's meeting will be beneficial to Forrest City because of the opportunities expected to be presented through the conference's various speakers and topics covered.
"We will have speakers covering everything from the federal surplus and recycling to economic development and redistricting. These conferences will allow us to get information that we will be able to bring back to the cities we represent so that we can help our communities grow," Bryant said.
Senator Tim Hutchinson, State Sen. Alvin Simes and Rep. Danny Ferguson, along with officials from Gov. Mike Huckabee's office, are expected to attend the event.
A murder charge was nolle prosequi Wednesday for a second suspect in the murder of a Forrest City man.
Markie Maurice Randle, 25, of Forrest City, originally charged with capital murder in the death of Carlos Ivey, was, however, sentenced Wednesday to five years in the Arkansas Department of Corrections for theft of property, a charge that was amended from aggravated robbery.
Roger Dante Hill, 24, was sentenced Wednesday morning to 35 years in prison in connection with Ivey's death.
Four other people were also sentenced to prison during circuit court hearings at the St. Francis County Courthouse.
Ivory Smith Jr., 21, of Forrest City, received a 10-year prison sentence along with a 10-year suspended sentence effective from the date of sentencing in connection with drug charges.
Eddie Fryer, 29, of Forrest City, was sentenced to 10 years in prison on a negotiated attempted rape charge from an original charge of rape. He must also serve a three-year suspended sentence for second-degree battery after his release from prison.
Franklin G. Doane, 32, of Colt, was sentenced to five years in prison on drug charges.
Calvin J. Riley, 19, of West Memphis, was sentenced to 10 years in prison for burglary, aggravated robbery, aggravated assault and kidnapping.
The Crowley's Ridge Technical Institute's board will meet at 6 tonight on the Forrest City campus.
The East Arkansas Community College Board of Trustees will meet at 7 tonight in the college board room.
Both meetings are open to the public.