Leery lenders have put the Wagram Primary School expansion on hold despite Scotland County Schools getting the green light from the state, Superintendent Rick Stout told school board members on Monday.

"We had the $3 million approved by the state," Superintendent Rick Stout said. "The only hurdle now is trying to get those bonds sold and we have to sell the bond locally. There is not a county around the state that has sold their bonds."

Stout says the issue is not with local governments but instead a reluctant financial sector.

"It seems like everybody has been pretty tight on the lending side. Because of that, [the state] has extended the time. Instead of having it by the end of the year, they have extended until next year for us to sell the bond."

He said the state is looking at alternative ways to sell the bonds, including selling the $275 million in bonds as a lump sum to a lender.

The Wagram expansion project will be funded by a $3 million zero interest loan from the Qualified School Construction Bonds Program, which is part of the Federal Stimulus Plan.

The plan calls for an addition at the Wagram school to house the students from Shaw Primary School. East Laurinburg Alternative School will then be moved to the Shaw campus and the East Laurinburg campus will be closed. Some school officials see the change as a way to cut costs, reduce overcrowding and improve academic achievement.

Stout says that, despite the upcoming hurdles, "we are happy to have this money available."

High School CEO

Stout also discussed the recently proposed CEO of Scotland High School position, an idea he says is still in infancy.

The superintendent says the idea has generated numerous calls from concerned taxpayers who fear the extra burden of such a position.

"We are very early in the preliminary stages on that. We are not planning on having any people in terms of money at the high school. I think that was an issue of concern for people in the community."

"We are looking at the management system at the high school. We are trying to use the same amount of funds at the high school if not cutting back

"We are not add to the operations but cut back while maintaining business at the high school."

He said the move is part of long-term changes at the school and would not be acted on in the coming months.

"We are just trying to look forward strategically."

Stout also said the move would be to improve the quality of the education at the High Schools.

He added that the "plans are not all concrete," including other recommended positions such as the grant writer.

The idea was discussed at the Scotland County School Board's planning retreat on Wednesday. No action has been taken on any proposal from that meeting.

Budget

In other business, the board also unanimously approved a revised budget to account for state cuts made after the budget was approved and allocations from county and stimulus funds. Vice Chairman Mary Evans and Board member Charles Brown were not present for the vote.

The new budget factors in a drop in state-allocated funds of about $3.4 million, according to Finance Officer Brian Messer.

He said the cut, which took state-funding from $44 million to $40.6 million, came from a $2.1 million reduction in non instructional personnel and $1.3 million in state-directed cuts. He says the figure does not include over $1 million in discretionary reductions from the state.

Messer says additional funds from the federal government fill some of this void. The school is getting $1.9 million in stimulus funds.

Stouts says the stimulus funds help fill the gap and protect some school jobs in the short term, but warns the board about relying on the funds.

"When that money ends in 2 years, all those positions we've saved, we'll have to find a new revenue source for. I don't think the state will give it back to us."

He says this will be more than a local problem.

"Every school across the state will have significant problems."