LOXLEY, Ala. — The Baldwin County Board of Education confirmed the cuts of non-certified school employees at a special meeting in Loxley Sept. 29. The cuts took effect Sept. 30. Aside from Elmer McDaniel and Frank Trione, all members were present for the meeting.

The school board voted to establish a $35 million “line of credit” with Regions Bank According to Jean McCutchen, the chief financial officer of the Baldwin County Public Schools, the school system will only be charged interest “on what we use.”

The credit line, McCutchen said, was to be used in the event of “delayed remittance of state and local revenues” and “Proration by the state.”

Proration became a reality later the same day when Governor Bob Riley declared a 7.5 percent proration for the fiscal year that begins Oct. 1. Proration means cutting appropriations when revenues fall short of projections.

“We will have to cut $7.5 million more,” said Terry Wilhite, a spokesperson for the school system in a phone interview Wednesday morning.

This is on top of trimming staff and cutting back on other expenses by the schools.

While class size has increased, Wilhite said that certified positions will not be considered for the next round of cuts.

“We have reduced operating costs,” said Wilhite.

Proration “was rumored” but the school board was not expecting proration to come before Oct. 1, when the fiscal year changes over. For the announcement to come before that was a surprise, indicated Wilhite.

“Superintendent Faron Hollinger has already said that the cuts (before proration) rise to the crisis level,” Wilhite said. He added that the only options the board has now is to, “raise revenue and cut additional costs.”

“We are already at the bare minimum now,” said Wilhite.

While a date has not been set, Wilhite believed that the school board would meet in emergency session to consider further cuts. Work has begun at the superintendent level to find more savings.

At Tuesday’s meeting, the board voted to extend the termination notice to some cafeteria workers and grounds personnel, but with the new cuts coming, it is unclear if those positions can be saved.

The board turned down a plea by Assistant Superintendent Eddie Tyler to save the position of an employee under him, calling the unnamed employee “vital” to the operation of his division.