Last week, three Baldwin school board members threw down the financial gauntlet by voting to reject Superintendent Dr. Troy Journigan’s budget proposal for Fiscal Year 2009. Citing the need to cut deeper to offset reductions in state funding, the board voted against the budget proposal and its more than $674,000 in cuts, with board members saying it simply wasn’t enough. But given the dismal economic projections trickling down from Washington and Atlanta, coupled with the board’s stand last week, it’s difficult to fathom how the same school board can justify its own spending when expenses such as cell phones for board members and the board’s travel and training allotment seem unnecessary and over-budgeted.

The Baldwin school board has done little to pare down its own spending while at the same time calling for deeper, more drastic cuts throughout the rest of the school system. In these financial times with regards to public school education — when school systems everywhere are being forced to balance a fine line between protecting teaching jobs and cutting costs without sacrificing on instruction, we find it difficult to justify a $4,000 allotment for local school board member training, and it certainly seems unnecessary to pay for cell phones for board members, as the system has in recent months. While $4,000 may not seem significant in the grand scheme of a $40 million-plus budget for operating a school system, this is a bad precedent — it’s hypocritical, and it’s a poor example to set for others in the school system who are being asked to tighten their spending belts, particularly our teachers, many of whom already spend out-of-pocket for classroom items.

While it’s certainly a benefit to have school board members take advantage of additional training beyond what is required, the board must be more mindful of whose funds are being spent and the timing of it all, particularly when the prolonging of the school system’s budget approval is delaying tax notices for the whole county. If board members want to see more cuts, then they should first take the scalpel to their own allotment.

The Georgia School Boards Association only requires six hours of training for board members a year at seemingly minimal costs, which leads us to believe a $4,000 allotment is over-budgeting given the present circumstances and all other factors involved in the local budget battle.

With the economy here at home and nationally the way it is, we consider nixing a board member’s trip to the National School Boards Association conference in San Diego a small sacrifice — and it shouldn’t even be discussed as a possible expenditure. Local school board members have attended the national conference in the past, but just how much of this information is applicable to our school system and how much (if any) has been put to use here at home in previous years?

We think it’s certainly possible for local board members to meet their required training obligations without overspending and traveling across the country. The knowledge they gain at the required Georgia School Boards Association training sessions is more than likely far more applicable to our local school system, and the money spent on traveling and lodging stays right here in our state — a small shot in the arm for Georgia’s economy, rather than benefiting some other state in another time zone.

If teachers, administrators and taxpayers must swallow these difficult funding cuts and a call for deeper reductions, then so should the board of education. Board members must lead by example on the budget issue, if for no other reason to make the sacrifices our teachers and administrators are having to make more tolerable and to help with system morale.

As of Friday morning, no further budget work sessions had been scheduled for the school board — despite public urging and requests by at least three board members — and the next regularly scheduled board meeting is not until Oct. 14. As we hear rumblings of concern from other local officials regarding the impact of the school board’s budget delay on the cash flow for the entire county, the board must act and get this budget issue resolved. So far, board members have not set a good example with regards to the budget process and their own spending, and it’s past time that they did.