Pearl River Central School District lost about $100,000 in Mississippi Adequate Education Program funding due to students not being in class for 63 percent of the instructional day.

The news was shared during Monday’s budget hearing.

The loss of funding caused the district to have to make difficult cuts across the board. Staff cuts will be achieved through attrition.

“We were hit pretty hard,” said superintendent Alan Lumpkin.

However Lumpkin said he appreciates the funding that comes from the local level in ad valorem taxes.

“Without financial support of the community we can not educate the children,” Lumpkin said.

District Business Administrator T. J. Burleson said MAEP funding was cut by about $87,000 from $13.5 million to $13.49 million.

In all, the district was forced to make $700,000 worth of cuts to their budget.

Even though MAEP was expected to issue additional funding to school districts to help cover the mandatory $1,500 raises per teacher, the district lost funding because they did not meet the Average Daily Attendance rule that states students must be in attendance for 63 percent of the instructional day.

The teacher raises will cost the district an additional $415,000, Burleson said. Step increases for all staff will cost about $200,000. The district is requesting the same amount of local funding they have for the past three years, $6.3 million.

Cuts include two regular and one gifted  teaching positions and two teacher assistant positions at the lower elementary. At the upper elementary two teacher assistant and two special education positions are being cut, in addition to $30,000 in textbook funds.

At the middle school four regular teaching positions are being cut.  At the high school three regular education and one special education teaching positions are being cut. In the central office two full-time positions are being downgraded to part-time, Burelson said.

In addition two bus routes are being cut. The district is adding a daycare director for an early childhood education program, an instructional coach at the high school and a reading coach at the Lower Elementary.