BLOUNTVILLE, Tenn. (WJHL) – A budgetary issue could result in the cancellation of school and temporary suspension of operations for Sullivan County schools.

In a letter sent to Sullivan County Department of Education employees on Thursday, Director of Schools David Cox said the budget that was approved and submitted by the county commission does not meet the state’s required Maintenance of Effort Test, which ensures local funding per student is not decreased from the year prior.

The letter states that as a result, funding amounting to $4,024,800 per month will be held starting October 15 and until the budget issue is resolved.

“In that case, it would not take long to deplete reserves and once we’re basically out of funding, we would have to suspend operations until the issue would be resolved,” Cox told News Channel 11 Thursday night.

“The impacts potentially are tremendous,” Cox said. “It impacts our ability to operate the schools and means that the students wouldn’t be coming to school. It means that the buses wouldn’t be rolling and that teachers wouldn’t be teaching.”

It could also mean extending the school year.

“We are required to be in session 180 days, so if we have to suspend operations of the school system for whatever number of days, then the calendar would have to be adjusted so that we had 180 student-days,” Cox said. “It would be very disruptive.”

Cox also advised employees in the letter that their paychecks could be delayed in the event the school system has to shut down.

Dear SCDE Employee: Upon the direction of the Board of Education, I would like to notify you of a potential budgetary concern. It was confirmed today that the budget which was approved and submitted by the County Commission for our General Purpose School Fund does not meet the required Maintenance of Effort Test from the TN Department of Education. The Maintenance of Effort Test is an established procedure to ensure that local funding is not decreased lower than the per pupil revenue budgeted in the prior year. With the failure of the Maintenance of Effort Test, the BEP funds that are received monthly will be held until a resolution is reached. Beginning on October 15th, this loss of revenue will amount to $4,024,800.00 per month and will continue until the budget is resolved by the Maintenance of Effort test being met. Obviously, this loss of revenue would be detrimental to our school system and if unresolved, could cause us to temporarily suspend daily operations, including transportation, instruction, school nutrition, athletics, and Central Office services. In the event that we would be forced to temporarily cancel school and suspend daily operations, each SCDE employee would receive earned compensation as daily operations are resumed. If you have questions, please respond here. From those submissions, a list of FAQs will be developed to provide further clarification. Sincerely, —

David A. Cox, Ed. D.

Director of Schools

Sullivan County Public Schools

PO Box 306

Blountville, TN . 37617

423-354-1002

This comes after the county commission rejected a two-cent property tax increase to pay for school resource officers.

SEE ALSO: School and sheriff’s department come up short in Sullivan County budget

School board chairman Michael Hughes told News Channel 11 in July that the school system would have to pay for half the cost the county pledged to cover, an estimated $360,000. He also said there was a chance the budget wouldn’t meet the state’s minimum funding requirements.

This is a developing story. Look for updates on WJHL.com.