The Moore County Board of Education unanimously adopted its 2009-10 budget, which calls for no increase in county funding, Wednesday.

The approved budget is nearly unchanged from what Superintendent Susan Purser presented to the board on March 23 and asks for a total of $26,069,145 in county funding, returning it to the 2007-2008 level. Last year, county funding was $200,000 greater due to one-time Medicaid relief funding.

Board member Bruce Cunningham praised the hard work of the school system's staff during the budgeting process, a process that two weeks ago Purser said was the most challenging in her 39 years in education.

"This year's budget process is quite like shooting at a moving target," he said. "I want to commend staff, the central office, finance personnel for their hard work and keeping on top of the changing situation. You've done a good job."

Board chairwoman Kathy Farren agreed.

"We do appreciate all of the work you've done," she said. "We know you (chief financial officer Mike Griffin), along with Dr. Purser, along with the cabinet and the principals have put in a lot of time and a lot of effort doing this. And we do know that it's not just one person who sat back and put all of this together."

The school system is anticipating local cost increases of $773,000 next year, mainly due to rising utility cost increases and the construction of two new schools and classroom additions at others. The number is slightly larger than the $750,000 Purser proposed in her budget because estimated health insurance costs have increased since then.

In order to nullify those increases, the system is making local reductions in maintenance, position adjustments and operational adjustments, amounting to $773,000, reflecting a 3.1 percent decrease.

The maintenance department would absorb the majority of the reductions. The operational adjustments include reducing energy use and printing costs, establishing cost-saving guidelines for travel, continuing a soft hiring freeze, and reviewing low-enrollment classes and programs and dropping them if necessary, such as International Baccalaureate at Pinecrest High School and the sixth-grade year-round program at Southern Pines Elementary School.

Additionally, the school system will implement a mandatory four-day summer work week systemwide to cut back on costs. The year-round calendar would be included in that measure, and the four Fridays students would miss would be made up during inter-session breaks.

Purser said the budget would be presented to the County Board of Commissioners at its April 20 meeting. The county budget is typically finalized in June.

For more on this story, see Friday's print edition of The Pilot.