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CENTRE — Superintendent of Schools Brian Johnson said Tuesday afternoon that recent reports suggesting the Board of Education (BOE) is unhappy with its county-provided office space are missing the main issue.

Johnson said he and the Board members are not at all displeased with their offices on Main Street. The problem is that they are not getting the money they need to administer them properly.

At issue is the amount of money the county provides to the BOE for daily operations. The money in question has been mandated by the state since 1940 to provide adequate workspace for superintendents and their support staffs.

At Monday's meeting of the Cherokee County Commission, Johnson and  members of the Board of Education showed with legal counsel in-tow and asked for a resolution to the matter within 21 days.

“This is about more than office space,” Johnson told The Post Tuesday afternoon. “The money is for general operations: electricity, plumbing, postage, copies, general maintenance, and so on – everything we need to run this office.”

The Commission first cut funding to the BOE in December 2009, from $50,000 annually to $10,000, citing declining income at the county landfill.

“We started doing some investigating and found out that our operating funds have nothing to do with the landfill,” Johnson said. “State law requires that the Commission fund the Board’s operating costs, regardless of where the money comes from.”

After Johnson instructed his staff to take a closer look at costs, it was quickly discovered that the Board actually requires more than double what the Commission had been providing before the 80 percent cut.

“We put a pencil to it, and we’re in excess of a hundred thousand dollars,” Johnson said. “By the time you figure in maintenance on all these buildings and all the other costs, it’s around $115,000 annually. And that’s a very conservative estimate.”

In addition to the Board’s headquarters, there is also a technology office in Cedar Bluff, a maintenance and textbook office near Cherokee County High School, and an education specialist housed in a residential dwelling further down Main Street.

Johnson said he and county officials have worked together since December 2009 to try and reach a compromise on the annual payments. By last summer, the Commission had agreed to reinstate the $40,000 it had cut from the 2009-10 school year.

But Johnson said subsequent meetings still have not led to a resolution for 2010-11 and beyond, despite what he thought was a compromise reached several months ago for county to pay $90,000 a year.

“It was a very good meeting during which the committee representing the Commission agreed that we needed to be paid for our expenses,” Johnson said. 

About a month later, however, Johnson was informed that the BOE allotment would revert to its previous annual allocation of $50,000, instead of the negotiated amount of $90,000.

Johnson said he’s not upset with the elected officials who voted down the compromise, explaining that he understands they have a tough job to do and a tough economic climate to do it in.

“I respect and appreciate the work all of them do for this county,” Johnson said. “But it boils down to principle. This is the allocation that the law says we are supposed to get, and I’ve got to stand up for my employees and the children in our school system.”

Local attorney Bill Hawkins, who represents the county, said he looks forward to more clarification on the BOE’s position from a legal standpoint.

“Their attorney spoke in broad and general terms,” Hawkins told The Post. “His interpretation may be overly broad in regards to the specifics of the statute.”

County Administrator Tim Burgess declined to comment on the record, but offered to compile by Friday afternoon a ledger of all funds, including property and sales tax allotments and discretionary funds from individual commissioners, which the county provides annually to the BOE. The document will be attached to this column as soon as it becomes available.

Commissioner Kimball Parker said he remains “open to working with the Board of Education to negotiate a solution”. He declined to comment any further because of the possibility of litigation. Judge Salter also declined to comment.

To view Title 16, Chapter 9-24 of the Alabama Code, click this link: http://alisondb.legislature.state.al.us/acas/ACASLogin.asp. Click the blue tab on the far left that reads "Code of Ala.", then click "View." Scroll down to Title 16, click the link for Chapter 9, then click the link for "Section 16-9-24".