JACKSONVILLE — As of Friday afternoon, about 30 staff members have taken advantage of Jacksonville Independent School District's offer of a $500 early notice resignation bonus.

And even though six or seven of those positions will be restructured so that those leaving will not have to be replaced, the $300,000 JISD will save by eliminating those positions still falls far short of the $2.7 million to $4.6 million the district anticipates it will lose in next year's funds due to state-level budgetary shortfalls — an 8 to 15 percent decrease in the district's current $35 million budget.

“Of those 30 (who have submitted early resignations), six or seven are aides,” said JISD Superintendent Dr. Joe Wardell.

He explained that part of JISD's success academically is due to its high staff-to-student ratio, including aides who not only work directly with students, but also those aides who staff workrooms to help teachers stay in their classrooms teaching.

“Our principals are going to try to keep aides who work directly with our students,” Wardell said.

He said he has also asked everyone in the district to be as frugal as possible for the rest of this school year, and to try to buy supplies for next year from this year's budget, if possible — JISD will plan for a 20 percent across-the-board cut in supplies, saving the district about $200,000 next year.

“What we've asked people to do from here to the end of the school year is, if something comes up, they really look at it closely and decide whether they really need it or not,” he said. “With this group, all I really have to do is ask, and they find a way.

“I have spoken with all the principals and not one of them has said there isn't something they can't do. They're a very positive group in everything we do.”

While Wardell and Assistant Superintendent of Finance and Operations Lindy Finley have both told the JISD Board of Trustees in a previous meeting that the district is not yet in panic mode over next year's budget, everything they are hearing from Austin and current legislators show the state is $9.5 billion to $10 billion short of the money it spent on public education last year.

The Senate's proposed budget slashed $9.5 billion off last session's education budget, while the House's proposed budget cut $10 billion.

“We’ve been told the state is probably $10 billion short, but the state has not told us what to do to deal with these cuts, and probably won’t until special session,” Wardell said in a previous interview.

Currently, the Texas Legislature is dealing with the sticky subject of redistricting — done the session following a census.

“Last time, 10 years ago, it took them the entire session to finish redistricting,” Wardell said. “They didn’t deal with budgetary items until the following special sessions.”

And even if JISD could find a local revenue stream to try to make up for some of its lost state dollars, Wardell said when a district in Texas makes more money locally, it loses state funding so that the amount of total monies the district has to work with stays the same.

JISD is already on the low end of the scale in terms of how many state dollars it receives per student — its number sits at less than $5,000 per pupil, placing it in the bottom 18 percent of districts statewide in terms of how much money it gets from the state.

Nearby New Summerfield Independent School District receives about $1,000 more per student per school year. Wardell said if both districts were funded equitably at NSISD's numbers, JISD would receive about $7 million more per year on which to operate.

“There is no equality at all in the amounts districts receive,” Wardell said. “It’s based on what you spent in 2005-2006 school year.”

He explained the target revenue system the state bases current allocations of money for districts was put in place about four years ago as a temporary measure to budget for public education.

Essentially, if a district spent more during that year, it receives more funds now, Wardell said. However, if a district was frugal and saved money that school year, it receives fewer dollars. At the time, though, districts did not know their future budgets would be based on these amounts.

JISD is known for its frugality, Wardell said, citing the five-star Financial Allocation Study for Texas (FAST) rating the district received this year. The rating is the highest possible for the FAST program, which measures student performance vs. district spending per student. JISD was one of only 43 districts in the state to receive the five-star rating.

“I think it's important to say that Jacksonville is the most efficient district I've ever worked in,” he said. “They do such a great job with our students. We're in the lowest 18 percent of schools in total funds to spend on kids, yet we're recognized academically.”

But despite the academic achievements and recognitions, the district will still have to cut personnel somewhere if the current state-level budgetary shortfalls come to pass — 85 percent of JISD's budget is spent on personnel.

One hope Wardell said he has is that the state will decide to use its Economic Stabilization Fund, or “Rainy Day Fund”, to make up for where state dollars are lacking.

“The original intent and purpose of the Rainy Day Fund was for things like budget shortfalls,” he said, adding he has heard a few legislators say they do hope to use the fund this year despite Gov. Rick Perry's statements in his State of the State address earlier this month that the Rainy Day Fund would not be used.

Wardell said unlike a personal reserve fund, or even that of a school district, that is set aside for emergencies, the state's Rainy Day Fund is included in every state budget to automatically replenish every year.

If the state does not opt to use the $9 billion or so it has in the Rainy Day Fund and updated numbers from the state comptroller's office do not bring up budget monies significantly, JISD will have to decide where in its personnel it can make cuts — an inevitability Wardell has said he is sure will bring complaints since the district is now working on building new schools with monies from the bonds Jacksonville voters approved in November 2010.

“The bond money is specifically for facilities and equipment to build those facilities,” he said. “The bond money is to build something that is going to last a long time and purchase furnishings for those buildings that will last a long time.

“We didn't know, when we were looking at the bond issue, that the state was going to come in and cut our revenue.”

Some good news for the district about the bond, though: The bonds sold for less than the district anticipated, saving the district money.

“A lot of bonds go for 30 years,” Wardell said. “We were hoping for 25, but because of the market, we were able to sell them for 24 years.”

Bonds are currently available for sale at Edward Jones in Jacksonville.

The district also saved money by hiring Pogue Construction of McKinney as construction manager at risk.

“Their fees were the lowest fees of any we received — they were significantly lower,” Wardell said.

Surveying for both new elementary campuses has begun. Markers can be seen just yards from East Side Elementary's playground, where the new campus will be built behind the school's current buildings.

“The group we hired has done this before, where they have had to work around the kids,” Wardell said. “I've worked with them before and they do have experience working in this kind of setting.”

He said not only will measures be taken to keep East Side students out of the construction site, but Pogue representatives will also plan for the safest and most efficient paths for vehicles and equipment to move in and out of the site, which is surrounded by neighborhoods.

Architects' renderings of the campuses to this point will be presented to the JISD Board of Trustees at Monday night's regular board meeting at 6:30 p.m., at the JISD Administration Building, 1547 Pine St.

Wardell said the district still plans for both new campuses to be fully operational by August or September 2012.

“It's an extremely ambitious goal,” he said. “But we have a need.”

In other business, Board members will also consider for approval:

• An Applied Learning Community Program for East Side Elementary;

• The proposed 2011-2012 school calendar;

• Elimination of Vision 20/20 Technology Program;

• Possible action on the early notice resignation program;

• Amendments to the DEC(LOCAL) Policy concerning compensation and benefits: leaves and absences;

• A participation agreement with Local Government Investment Cooperative (LOGIC);

• Adoption of TASB Local Policy Update 89 affecting local policies on safety program/risk management accident prevention and reports, college course work/dual credit courses and admissions;

• Preparations for the 2011 JISD trustee election, including an agreement with the City of Jacksonville for the May 14 election and a contract with Cherokee County to lease voting equipment for election day and early voting;

• The consent agenda, including minutes from the Jan. 24 meeting, an investment report, business reports, a budget amendment, the ADA summary, donations of $1,000 and over if needed, and tax refund applications of over $500 if needed;

• Discussion of the March Board meeting date;

• A reminder of candidate filing period for the May 14 election; and

• The superintendent's report.

Monday's meeting is open to the public.