SPANISH FORT, Ala. — Planning, accountability and a lack of school-specific information topped the list of concerns voiced Monday during the Spanish Fort Educational Enrichment Foundation’s Annual Meeting, designed to inform local residents about the funding crisis facing Baldwin County public schools and the impact a proposed 1 percent sales tax could have on the financially-strapped system.

Although the foundation’s annual meeting is typically a time to highlight the various ways in which the organization supports the four schools in the local feeder pattern, items such as teacher supply funds, its successful $25,000 mini-grant program and its vehement support of programs such as Scholars’ Bowl and ACT preparation, took a backseat Monday to concerns over the county school system’s compounding financial strain and its direct impact on Spanish Fort schools.

Eddie Tyler, assistant superintendent for the northern section of the county, addressed the crowd of about three dozen residents and told those gathered he understands a “trust issue” aggravates a perceived disconnect between interests at the local level and the central office.

“I can tell you this is a hard-working group of people (who) represent the truth,” said Tyler, speaking in Interim Superintendent JaNay Dawson’s stead. Dawson, who has been making the rounds in recent weeks educating residents about the potential impact of the proposed sales tax, fell ill prior to Monday’s meeting.

The ballot for the March 23 referendum states specifically that, if approved, the tax would only be allowed for 36 months, and school system officials have been careful to note 100 percent of the revenue generated would stay in Baldwin County, meaning it would not be subject to the system’s “10 mil match.”

In a program referred to as “equity funding,” the state began in 1996 retaining 10 mils from each school system to be placed in the Education Trust Fund to help offset local tax revenue shortfalls.

A mil is one-one-thousandth of a property’s value dedicated entirely to educational spending. The program was designed to level the statewide funding playing field, but because Baldwin County assesses a separate 12-mil ad valorem tax, the system is essentially stripped of all discretionary funding once the two are combined.

Tyler said he prepared Spanish Fort-specific figures related to the tax issue, but he mistakenly distributed them earlier in the day to a different group and instead offered participants general Baldwin County statistics. Attempts by the Spanish Fort Sun to obtain the Spanish Fort-specific information were unsuccessful as of press time.

Tyler said he understands “there has never been a worse time to ask people to dig deeper in their pockets,” but without the infusion of funds the sales tax would generate, Baldwin County Schools will see continued staff reductions, program elimination and even potential facility closures.

“I’ve heard it all. That Baldwin County knew this was coming. That other systems prepared (for the fallout) and Baldwin County didn’t. None of that is true,” Tyler said, noting that Baldwin County is one of 56 school systems out of 131 statewide asked to present the state Board of Education with a “survival” plan because its current funds do not equal one month’s operating budget. The Baldwin County system requires roughly $18 million per month, he said.

Although the comments have not yet been made public, Tyler said Dawson’s survival plan has received preliminary approval from the state indicating the county system is complying at every turn, but there simply isn’t enough revenue generated to cover expenses.

“We have a tremendous funding shortage. It’s not a mismanagement,” he said.

In fact, Tyler said the state originally anticipated proration of between 3 and 6 percent when the funding crisis first appeared two years ago, and instead Baldwin County Schools have endured 18 percent cuts representing $61 million during that period.

“If the state couldn’t get it right … how do they expect school systems to get it right?” Tyler said.

In addition, he said 32 percent of Alabama’s school system’s have established lines of credit to continue meeting monthly obligations.

Compounding the problem, he said, is the fact that the state has reconfigured the divisor used to set student-teacher ratios, meaning the county will automatically lose another 103 units in the next fiscal year. Those positions, coupled with the stimulus-funded positions that will expire over the next two years, means the system will lose a net figure of 370 positions.

“There probably isn’t anything that you haven’t thought of that we haven’t discussed,” Tyler said. “The bottom line is we can’t think (about this) emotionally. It’s a question of how can we survive and not lose personnel.”

Spanish Fort High School Principal Beverly Spondike reiterated for the crowd gathered figures presented to the City Council one week earlier that would specifically affect her school.

Specifically, she said 12 non-tenured teachers will lose their jobs along with 6.8 locally-funded units, and the already bloated classes of 35 to 39 students could swell easily to 50.

On the extracurricular side, Spondike said failure of the referendum to pass could mean the elimination of band, choir and possibly football, meaning SFHS students could no longer pursue college scholarships in any of those areas.

Parents asked specifically about the system’s ability to continue offering International Baccalaureate and Advanced Placement courses, and Spondike admitted it will be difficult — but not impossible — to continue meeting such needs if highly specialized teachers are displaced by future cuts. She also noted that increased class sizes will directly affect the quality of such courses.

Dr. Fred Cromartie, who is employed by the United States Sports Academy, said although he’s heard a great deal about the need for the temporary tax, he has heard nothing mentioned of a long-range plan to address the funding crisis.

Cromartie said he was personally shocked to learn Vestavia Hills Schools on the suburbs of Birmingham assess ad valorem of 43 mils compared with Baldwin County’s 12.

“You can’t tell me there is a greater commitment to education up there than there is down here,” he said.

Baldwin County Board of Education President Tracy Roberts said the penny tax is being considered as a short-term action because even if voters approved an increase in the county’s ad valorem tax — a request that has failed in the past — it would take between 18 and 20 months to realize a single cent of the revenue generated.

“We need immediate revenue,” Roberts said.

Christy Inabinett said she was “cloudy” on how the referendum has taken so long to come to fruition when the need has been apparent for so long, and she asked specifically who should be held accountable at election time for the delay.

Roberts said the Baldwin County Commission did not move sooner on the tax because “they felt the people deserved the right to vote.”

Jenny DePuma asked if the business community, and especially the area chambers of commerce, have spoken in favor of the measure.

Sandra Bostrom, the foundation’s executive director, said it is her understanding that 78 percent of respondents to a recent Eastern Shore Chamber of Commerce questionnaire indicated they would be in favor of a “yes” vote on the referendum.

In closing the program, SFEEF President Sheren LeBlanc said was grateful for the opportunity to help keep the lines of communication open on such a timely and convoluted topic.