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Local school divisions battle budget woes

Posted at 7:53 PM, Jan 24, 2013
and last updated 2013-01-24 19:53:36-05

RICHMOND, Va. (WTVR)--Many school divisions across the Greater Richmond metropolitan area are facing budget deficits, and how each one deals with the problem will be unique to the school district.

In Petersburg, the budget is expected to be just over $48-million dollars but the school system expects expenses to be more than $50-million dollars.

The new superintendent, Dr. Joseph Melvin is trying to bridge the gap through teacher attrition and possibly cuts to some programs, including to both Maggie Walker and Appomattox Regional Governor's School.

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Dr. James Victory, with Appomattox Regional Governor's School, knows well the problems of school budgets. His school is funded in part by 14 school systems that send students to the Governor's School.

He is hopeful cuts to the program can be avoided.

In Henrico County, the budget right now sits at $410,272,057 dollars. That's $11-Million dollars over budget.

The staff wqas able to immediately remove $1.8-million through additional state revenue, leaving a $9,529,019 shortfall.

Staff then went through and found more savings, including $500,000 in utilities, $1.6-million in attrition and $130,000 in health care savings to make up the $9.5 million deficit.