Superintendent Will Schofield said at Monday night's regular school board meeting he thinks the most logical place to start is with International Baccalaureate (IB) programs at Johnson, West Hall and North Hall high schools.
He said once Hall County juniors are given the opportunity to fill those seats in IB classrooms, any vacant spots would be offered at a fee to out-of-district students.
"We just feel like we have a fiscal responsibility to charge what it will cost us," said Schofield. "We think that cost will be between $1000 and $1500 a year."
He said at this point he is unsure how many seats might be available for tuition students in the fall, although the range could be anywhere from 30 to 100 students at the three schools that offer IB programs.
Schofield said he will have a full proposal for the school board to review at the May work session.
In addition to the possibility of closing the budget gap with the tuition plan, Schofield said school board members need to begin preparations for whittling the budget by using more non-traditional education methods.
He suggested offering more online classes for students as one way to cut classroom expenses. Online classes are being offered in a few pilot programs in the Hall County now.
"If 12 to 18 months from now we're not offering online blended programming on a wide scale basis, I will be disappointed," said Schofield.
Once again, the gap between expenditures and revenues is projected in the millions of dollars for the coming fiscal year, according to Schofield. The blame goes to fewer state dollars coming into the system and lower property tax collections locally.
Schofield said he anticipates a fourth straight year where there will be fewer than 190 contract days for teachers.
He said the system has moved to a position of doing "more with less" to a position of now doing "less with less."
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