Nathan DiBagno

ANDERSON COUNTY — Anderson School District One Superintendent Wayne Fowler already has a grim outlook on next year’s budget process.

Officials anticipate that the district will lose about $3.5 million in 2009-’10. The district will receive about $1.5 million less in stimulus funds, and another $2 million less in state cuts.

“It’s not a real pretty picture,” Fowler said.

Last year, about $2 million in federal stabilization funds helped alleviate the district’s financial shortfall. The 2008-’09 general operations budget dropped about 1.6 percent, from $55.1 to $54.2 million.

That does not include the money levied for Anderson One’s building program. The district cannot lawfully take funds from the building program to pay employees.

Fowler said he just hopes the state doesn’t continue to lose even more money.

“It could be more than $3.5 million,” Fowler said. “It’s going to be one of the worst 39 years in my career in public education.”

School districts throughout the state have asked the General Assembly to drop restrictions on local districts to help them absorb costs. One possibility that state legislators are considering is allowing school districts to furlough all employees for at least five days.

Anderson One Associate Superintendent David Havird said that Anderson One would save about $225,000 a day by furloughing employees, for a total of about $1.125 million. Officials are also considering furloughing administrators for 10 days.

Anderson One Board Chairman Fred Alexander said he believes the state should consider raising taxes in other areas or eliminating some sales tax exemptions.

“(Legislators) seem to bemore interested in doing things for the public than for our school children,” Alexander said. “We’re already behind, and they’re already exempting things.”

Anderson One Trustee Tom Merritt said the board needs to figure out “a way to put the breaks on” and stop cutting public education.

“I serve on this board because I wholeheartedly believe that public education is a key for us as a community to succeed long term on a global scale,” he said. “We are fighting with both hands behind our backs, and when we do get to release one, we end up with a butter knife in a gunfight.”

Merritt added that the Anderson One community supports its schools and public education.

“Otherwise they wouldn’t have passed the referendum like they did so resoundingly,” he said, referring to 2007, when about 75 percent of the voters in Anderson One favored the district’s $85.75 million construction plan.