While fiercely defending funds for scholarships, members of the Virgin Islands Board of Education voted Friday on severe budget-cutting measures.
Meeting in special session at board offices in downtown Charlotte Amalie, members went over cuts they could make to comply with a request from the V.I. Office of Management and Budget to reduce their budget by 25 percent.
The board’s approval included sending a letter to OMB outlining the critical services that would be cut if the OMB actually implements the 25 percent cuts, which could come as early as May, according to board members.
The board discussed the gravity of having to reduce their fiscal year budget by what amounts to the budget for a whole quarter of the year — with only two quarters of the year left.
“We are dealing with something very serious,” President Winona A. Hendricks said.
The requested cuts will severely impact the agency’s ability to provide services to the community, board members complained, while they tried to come up with creative methods to keep services and programs intact.
The board even discussed offering OMB a response, cutting the budget by 10 percent, but Hendricks argued that response could be viewed by the deJohng administration as disrespectful, and could also be an exercise in futility.
“It is clear that many executive branch [agencies] are not going to be able to meet [OMB’s request],” Keith Richards, the board’s vice president, said.
The $320,000 in cuts includes:
- $75,000 in salary, plus $30,000 in benefits by postponing hiring an Assistant Director for the St. Croix office, whose duties are now largely being performed by the board’s executive director Carol O. Henneman;
- $115,000 in maintenance and repairs to the electrical system and roof of the board’s headquarters;
- $10,000 in travel, meaning not holding the annual convention;
- $30,000 for professional services;
- $15,000 for training;
- $5,700 for supplies, leaving $10,000 for the remainder of the year;
- $35,000 in other services and charges.
The cuts were approved by board members Janis A. Esannason, Terrence T. Joseph, Richards, Hendricks, Arah Lockhart, and Oswin Sewer, Sr. Deborah Smith-Wattlington and Cheryl V. Francis voted against the measures. Board member Judy Gomez was absent.
