Public schools funding was one of a variety of subjects commissioners addressed during a three-hour retreat Thursday night at the Person County Office Building. And to a member of the five-member board, commissioners fell in line with Chairman Johnny M. Lunsford’s pledge to “make school funding a top priority this year.”

Last summer, the Person County Board of Education, Schools Supt. Larry W. Cartner, with support from PCS faculty and parents stepped up pressure on commissioners to increase the county’s level of funding for the schools. A series of public meetings and joint sessions of the two boards, as well as meetings among key school officials and commissioners, ensued concerning funding with each side pretty much giving as much as it got.

The school board was disappointed last spring when commissioners failed to fund the schools’ full current expense request for fiscal 2008, asserting that Person County allocations trailed the state average. But commissioners bristled, countering any perception that they had “cut” schools spending by asserting they actually had increased the allocation each of the past three years, although acknowledging that those allocations did not match the levels the schools actually requested.

Thursday night, however, commissioners, picking up Lunsford’s cue, flashed a more conciliatory tone.

Alluding to the talks the two boards have been conducting, Lunsford said, “I’m hoping that we can find some way to be able to look at the level of funding over the next three to five years to see if we can bring it up to a point whereby we can give the type of education to our children here in Person County that they deserve.”

Lunsford appealed to his fellow commissioners “for your support in that particular area.”

The commission chairman acknowledged that the school board has made budget cuts and adjustments of its own to arrive at “a short-term solution for their work throughout this year.”

But, he continued, “I hope that we will be able to increase the yearly level of funding by gradually doing this over a period of three to five years and [that] we can do this without harming the taxpayers and to make sure it does not cause our bond rating to go down and to make school funding a top priority for this year. We have a lot of work to do, but I think we can do that if we make that commitment.”

The retired educator concluded, “I’m asking you to consider that as we get into our work sessions and talk about budget, as we talk about the amount of money that we will provide for the school system and also for making sure that we keep our funding level right along with the state average as close as possible.”

Commissioner Jimmy B. Clayton concurred, observing that heretofore the school board has made a budget request and the county manager subsequently has made a schools allocation recommendation to commissioners.

“I think he would be the first to tell you,” Clayton said, “that most of the time we have increased it over his recommendation.”

“I think that if we do the percent increase and try to work out some type of formula to do this over a three-to-five-year period,” Clayton said, then, “we won’t have this battle with the school board every year, and they won’t have to feel like they’re being shortchanged.”

Clayton quickly added, however, that he did not think the county is shortchanging the schools but that state level funding “needs to be picked up.”

In any event, he indicated, that commissioners “are going to try to work with [school officials] and try to work it out. … Education is a large part of our budget; nobody wants to see that shortchanged, and I don’t think we’re going to shortchange it. I think it’s a big priority.”

Clayton he said commissioners would try to” help the schools as much as we can. How much that is, I don’t know yet.”

Commissioner Larry Yarborough commented, “I am in full agreement also. I do believe this board has been supportive of the schools. We’ve increased [the allocation] by a high of 11 percent and a low of eight percent in each of the three years that I’ve been on this board. And I believe that we can continue to keep that level of increase in funding.”

Yarborough wondered if the county continued to raise school funding at the level “at what point would we catch up? ... What is the goal here? Is there a number, a point where we know we’re caught up?”

From the audience, Supt. Cartner said school officials had suggested to Lunsford that the county be guided by either the annual Governor’s Report Card or the Public School Forum’s average per pupil expenditure report.

“We certainly would not have a problem with the commissioners choosing either one of those sources and looking at what the average per pupil expenditure is documented from either of those two independent organizations. That, then, would tell you how many years it would take to get to that. That figure does increase every year. But you would have a sense, then, of the gap and what you could do.”

Yarborough also commented, “In any case I agree that we can commit to it. I personally believe there’s a little bit of money available this year that could be added to it.”

Responding to Commissioner Kyle Puryear’s query for a “ballpark” figure the schools might request from the county in the new budget, Cartner said officials were working on their fourth budget draft but have yet to share those numbers with the school board. He indicated he preferred not to cite figures until that board has had an opportunity to review them.

Commissioner Larry Bowes agreed with his fellow commissioners “education is a priority I think.”

Bowes said, “Hopefully we can work with this budget to help [the schools] meet their needs. I think we’re committed to do that and should be. We have a lot of things on our agenda … but I think we can work all this out by continuing to get together and have open minds as to where we want to go.”