CUMBERLAND – Cumberland's Superintendent Dr. Amy Griffin will present her first proposed budget on Monday, February 14 to the School Board and the public.

The budget is for the 2011-2012 fiscal year and will be her first since taking over the top leadership position at Cumberland County Public Schools.

According to preliminary information, the budget will include state funding reductions and an increase in the VRS rate (retirement), as well as an additional request from the Cumberland Board of Supervisors.

The additional request, as explained during a work session a few weeks ago, will keep the school system operating as it is during this current school year.

After receiving the official budget proposal from the Superintendent on February 14, the School Board will then only have a day to prepare for its annual joint budget work session with the County's Board of Supervisors.

That meeting is set for Wednesday, February 16 at 6:30 p.m. on the school's campus in the Middle School Media Center.

Each year, the Supervisors and School Board come together to talk over the school's local budget request, which has become a difficult discussion topic in recent years due to state cuts for both the County and the school system.

For the school division to keep working as it is today, initial budget numbers indicate that the school will need additional money from the County's Board of Supervisors in local funding.

“Currently, when we look at our budget, even though we are going to have to ask the Board of Supervisors for more money-we are proposing that we ask the Board of Supervisors for more money-we are operating the same. It would be to operate the way we are now with less services,” explained Dr. Griffin during January's first work session where numbers were first presented to the School Board.

The school has proposed to request an additional $361,407.81 in local funding on top of what was appropriated by the County for this fiscal year.

The school received, for the 2010-2011 fiscal year, $3,107,705 total in local funding, said Chip Jones, director of finance and operations, to The Herald after that work session. The total being requested for this budget cycle is $3,466,112.81.