­(July 9, 2013) Jackson TN – The Jackson Madison County School Board held a special called meeting to discuss and take action on a 2013-14 budget.

On July 1, the Madison County Commission, county funding body, approved a budget for the 2013-14 fiscal year.  Among actions taken at that meeting the county legislative body adjusted the JMCS budget down $911,537.00  The CLB took several steps to accomplish this move.  First, a motion was passed that if the amended budget was approved that the funds would be transferred to Debt Service.  Second, a motion to reduce the Capital portion of the budget by $911,537.00. Third, to combine all 4 portions of the JMCS School budget into one budget total.

The commissioners said "why" they cut the budget was a lack of information, planning, and presentation for technology requests.  However, commissioners are prohibited from specifically making line item changes so the money was taken from the capital budget bottom line.

The school board has held two meetings since the county commission budget meeting.

At Tuesday's meeting the board heard from school board attorney, Dale Thomas, and discussed the issue of what action to take next.

The attorney opened his remarks by telling the board his recommendation, that the board only had one course of action by statute and that was to accept the budget as amended.  He added that after they did they could then go back and request a hearing before the funding body to seek additional funding. The attorney then laid out for board members the contacts he had made and what he had done to resolve the question of what options were available to the board.

Board members Campbell, Head, Murray,  and Hampton were among those who discussed the conversations they had with commissioners. Board members didn't mention any names, but said they felt after the conversations that commissioners had a better understanding and, though none committed, they felt that commissioners would vote differently today.

Truman Murray said he felt after his conversations that commissioners had been misinformed both about the reality of Common Core and the plans for the technology money requested. Murray added he thought commissioners he spoke with had changed their minds about how they would vote next time.

The majority of the school board members stressed they didn't want to challenge the CLB or take them on in a confrontational way that might harm future negotiations.  Most were conciliatory to accepting the budget reduction and presenting a plan at a later date.

One member, Bob Alvey, was interested in exploring other options.

When Alvey asked what the consequences were if the board took no action or sent the budget back to include the $911,000.00 the attorney said there was no statute that answered that question and he added he didn't know.

Alvey made a motion to reject the budget as it was sent and to ask for a meeting with the commissioners, he also included that he would be fine with taking no action, but to request the meeting without accepting the budget cut. His motion died without a second.

In the end the board voted 7-1 to accept the budget as is, with the cuts, and to adjust their budget to reflect the cuts in the technology requests.

The board will meet again on Monday July 15th for the regular work session. The meeting is 6:00 PM at the Central Office, North Parkway, Jackson TN.