HALIFAX – It was a long and arduous meeting, with neither the Halifax County School Board nor the Halifax County Commissioners budging during a mediation meeting over school funding last night.

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Judge Zoro J. Guice Jr. of Hendersonville said the session was a first for him in a 30-year career of law and mediation.

From the beginning he set the rules.

First, he would hear presentations from each board,  then each side would have the opportunity for rebuttal. The boards would retire to meet with their attorneys. If no agreement was in the offering and no one softened their position, a phase II mediation hearing would be scheduled.

The school district’s attorne, Larry Armstrong went first pointing to the nameplates provided by the commissioners for the school board members with red lettering and wondering if the red ink was  not a reflection of the county’s strategy.

He explained to a nearly full house how the school system is working toward financial stability but circumstances have put it in peril and increased funding is necessary for students to receive needed services for the upcoming year.

Armstrong admitted mistakes were made in the past, but that the board and staff are working to rectify the situation. “The current board has done everything it can do to remedy the shortcomings,” he said.

He reminded commissioners of recent developments in the Leandro case placing  an additional $1.9 million burden on the district. The state ordered the district to use the federal stimulus money to pay for the extra costs ordered by the court and the state. That leaves the district without money to offset cuts in school funding mandated by the legislature.

Armstrong noted the school board had made hard decisions —  closing schools, and cutting jobs. “I’m asking you to keep an open mind. These are subsidies for the children. We’ve done what we can do from the state standpoint, now we need added help from the county. We need to ask, ‘What about the children?’” he said as he turned the presentation over to Superintendent Geraldine Middleton, and former Finance Officer Andrew Callahan.

Callahan came in from Washington, D.C., to explain the work done under his tenure and his predictions of issues that could only be solved with additional money.

Middleton opened with information on diminishing student enrollments. She explained the impact, saying a large portion of school’s funds are based on Average Daily Membership (ADM), and declining enrollment means less money for the System. “Enrollment is declining at a greater rate than predicted and we anticipate more decline in the future,” she said. 

She also showed  a comparison of last year’s state funding to the 2009-2010 funding. Her figures showed a decrease in state funds of almost $2.5 million, in more than 20 specific programs including some teacher salaries. These cuts are due to State budget cuts and are separate from ADM funds. She said these cuts may be deeper when the state’s final budget is approved.

Middleton explained the inaccessibility of federal stimulus funds for Halifax County Schools. Although originally intended to offset state cuts, the money is now targeted to pay for an increased effort to improve the quality of education in the district including  $100,000 per year salaries for 12 Master Coaches to get the school system back on track academically.

Callahan explained money-saving plans implemented by the schools. He reviewed the county’s budget and showed how, taking into account increases in the county’s overall budget, county funding has decreased more than 5 percent to schools over the past five years. He also showed the effects of inflation eating away at the system’s buying power.

Callahan reminded commissioners that Weldon and Roanoke Rapids City Schools have supplemental taxes to offset their needs. The additional tax money gives them totals of $1,668 per student and $1,134 per student respectively, while the county system has only $609 per student.

Middleton then made her request for additional funds totaling almost $2 million. The request includes six preschool teachers, 10 preschool teacher assistants, five maintenance positions, a fuel cost adjustment, a fund balance contingency, a resource officer and athletic equipment and transportation.

The attorney for the commissioners Neil Yarborough took the floor. “I’m here to talk myself out of a job,” he said. He cautioned the school board against filing a lawsuit against commissioners for more funding. He showed the exorbitant costs of lawsuits to school boards in cases like these, saying the start-up costs for litigation for other systems for three month of mediation at almost $500,000.

He pulled out the laws governing school boards, and reminded them of all the laws that were broken when former Finance Officer James Sweet allegedly got the system’s accounts in disarray. He reminded them they had the right to approach taxpayers for supplemental taxes to support the system and encouraged them to take that route instead of trying to make commissioners fund at higher levels. “You should ask the voters of your district to have a supplemental tax to support higher education,” he said.

Yarborough showed the school board letters from the state saying they were not in compliance with accounting rules. “I’m trying to convince you not to sue my clients,” he said.

The attorney continued his onslaught at the district’s system of accountability, citing the past three years of audits were not completed in a timely fashion. “What I don’t understand is why the Department of Public Instruction hasn’t already taken over,” he said. He listed dozens of what he called questionable expenses in the system’s budget including time-shares, trips and lost purchase orders in excess of $100,000.

He called on the school board to back out of mediation and opt for joint meetings in which Commissioners would have no threat of lawsuit. “You really have the right idea in coming together and talking, but you’re using the wrong statute to do it.” He ended by saying, he was giving the school board an idea of what they were going to be up against if they continued to pursue legal relief. “It’s better to have it out, upfront, how it’s going to play out, instead of sugar coating and sandbagging when you know what’s going to happen,” he said.

“You have just seen a dog and pony show,” said Armstrong. The attorney rebutted Yarboroughs allegations, saying the opposition was muddying the waters to shirk the true questions. He pointed to the board, and referred to the letters from the state, “They don’t need to hear all this again. We lived through it. Most of this was ancient history and had nothing to do with the last two years.”

Then he reminded everyone of the reason for the mediation in the first place. “Not once did Mr. Yarborough say the children don’t need this money. The fact of the matter is there is not enough money appropriated by the county to run this system.”

Yarborough retorted, “Good county policy is not developed in trial,” and closed with, “Nobody knows the financial status of the schools. How can you say you don’t have enough if you don’t know what you’ve got?”

Judge Guice remanded the boards to talk with their attorneys with consent from both boards. When they returned, at nearly 11 p.m. School Board members Donna Hunter and Carolyn Hawkins were not there.

The boards agreed to meet again in closed session Wednesday at 10 a.m. in a place to be announced to the boards.

“I can’t promise you we will resolve this matter but we’re going to try,” Judge Guice said. “We’re going to work hard.”