The Spotsylvania County School Board approved a fiscal 2011 budget last night that cuts $14.7 million from current funding and eliminates 138 positions.

School Board Chairman Gil Seaux kicked off the budget discussion with even worse news. "The numbers you see tonight will not be the numbers whenever we reach the end of this journey," Seaux said.

He said his recent conversations with state legislators led him to believe cuts will exceed the roughly $15 million in the budget the board approved last night in a 6-1 vote.

"The critical assumption," Seaux said, will be level funding from the county. Last year the county approved $113.8 million in funding, and County Administrator Doug Barnes has said he will recommend that again to the Board of County Supervisors, but it is not guaranteed.

As expected, board member Ray Lora voted against the budget. He said last night that his decision was prompted by four issues. Those include what he called the unfairness of paying new assistant principals on an 11-month contract while current ones continue to be paid on 12-month contracts. He also called it unfair for stipends to continue to be cut while addenda remain untouched. He also called for a re-evaluation of central office staffing and for additional work on funding the middle and high school athletic programs.

Board member Amanda Blalock said she felt more money should have been cut from the central office, noting that of the 138 positions cut, six came from central office. Of those, she said one was vacant, one was put back into the school division part time, another was a part-time receptionist and the remainder were support staff.

"If we do take additional cuts, I hope we will look in the right spots," she said.

Board member Linda Wieland became emotional as she addressed teachers in her comments. "The added burden on you pains me, but I know you will protect the children," she said.

She added that if Gov. Bob McDonnell's proposal to implement the revised funding formula goes through as he proposed last week, she will recommend that the $1.1 million the county expects to see restored to its budget be put back into the classroom.

The fiscal 2011 operating budget totals $216 million as proposed.