Flat State Funding Forces Berryhill To Use Reserve Fund

School districts all over, large and small, tell a similar story of a how a flat state budget is forcing them to make cuts to keep things going.

Even an eighth-grade math student can see the problems in the equation for Oklahoma school funding this year.

It's expected to be flat, while expenses are on the rise.

In Berryhill - that's prompting the district to make a different kind of cut - cutting into the reserve fund it usually has for emergencies and cash flow.

"So we'll be able to bring back our current staff, but we can't continue this forever, we're getting in to our fund balance and we're going to need some relief," Berryhill Superintendent Mike Campbell said.

Berryhill maintains an $800,000 reserve to pay bills before state checks arrive -- $500,000 goes just for payroll.

Next year, it will have to use $200,000 of the reserve for the regular budget.

Campbell says he's just hoping funding could be what it was a couple of years ago.

When the state cut funding to the level it's at now, Berryhill made a $600,000 budget cut.

"We cut teachers, support staff, administrative staff, some services," Campbell said. "We cut everything we possibly could and those were tough decisions, and fortunately some of that was through attrition."

With that history behind it, Berryhill is in a position to keep the teachers it has for another year.

But Campbell says next year, there won't be any room in the reserve fund to prop up the budget, so unless state support increases, Berryhill will have to make more cuts.

"We would certainly like to get back to the funding status we had in '09, before the recession and the cuts, so we can get a full staff and offer the services you need in your school district," Campbell said.

It's a similar story in Sapulpa, which is using part of its annual carryover - the reserve - next year.

Sapulpa Superintendent Mary Webb told News On 6 her district has absorbed $2.5 million dollars in state funding cuts and like other districts, it had some stimulus money for a while, but that's run out.

The situation is leading parents to get more involved asking the legislature to pump up the budget.