The Board of Education on Wednesday unanimously adopted its 2009-2010 budget, which calls for no increase in county funding.

The budget is nearly unchanged from the draft Superintendent Susan Purser presented to the board March 23.

It seeks $26,069,145 in county funding. Last year, county funding was $200,000 higher because of one-time Medicaid relief funding the state provided to counties.

Board member Bruce Cunningham praised the hard work of the school system's staff during the budgeting process, which 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 operational expenses to increase by $773,000 next year, mainly due to rising utility cost 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.

To offset those increases, the system is making local reductions in maintenance, personnel 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 and continuing a soft hiring freeze.

The system will also continue 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 commissioners' April 20 meeting. The county budget is typically finalized in June.

Purser said the school system would wait until it got finalized information from the state before presenting the rest of the budget to the board. State funding accounts for about two-thirds of the system's total budget -- estimated to be about $110 million.

Gov. Beverly Perdue's proposed budget could reduce the county school system's funding by some $2 million, but that could change as the General Assembly gets involved. The state Senate is currently considering the proposed budget now, with the House's proposal coming later.

Purser said little information is available on what the Senate was proposing, other than increasing class sizes by two students and maintaining longevity pay.

The state budgeting process is usually wrapped up by late summer but has extended into November before.

In other business, a decision on the name and mascot for the new elementary school that will be constructed adjacent to West Pine Middle could come soon, according to Deputy Superintendent Larry Upchurch.

Central Elementary, Meadow-brook Elementary and West Pine Elementary are the three names being considered. Possible mascots are the Engineers, with red and gray colors; Explorers, with green and black colors; and Wildcat Cubs, with light blue and yellow colors, are the mascots.

Upchurch said 15 contractors have bid on the elementary school project, all of which were under budget.

Construction at Crain's Creek Middle School is also progressing well. Site work and masonry wall construction continue, and roof construction has been completed on three sections.

"We are excited about where we are," Upchurch said.

Contact John Krahnert III at 693-2473 or by e-mail at jkrahnert@thepilot.com.