Furlough days reduced in White County schools

CLEVELAND - It was a night of good news for White County Schools last week.

Superintendent Jeff Wilson, during a called board of education meeting, reported that the newly-released county tax digest was better than they expected and that means the system will be able to better meet the budget and ease back on the number of furlough days for teachers.

Wilson said the system will have to use some fund balance money to make up for a $300,000 deficit, but noted it will be able to reduce down to four the number of furlough days for county teachers.

With the elimination of those two furlough days, some changes had to be made in next year's school calendar, which will get the schools closer to the 180 days of required attendance. Adding back the two days will bring the number of days for students to 178.

Wilson said he and the board are committed to erasing all furlough days, and are hopeful that could come as soon as the 2015 school year.

The superintendent also shared the news that White County Schools were in the top 10 category in the new College and Career Ready Performance Index scores released by the state last week.

Officials met last Thursday night.