Faced with the reality of further upcoming cuts in state funding, the Wilkes County Board of Education voted Monday night to join many other school systems that are suing the state of Georgia for its failure to adequately fund schools.

The board had considered joining the Consortium for Adequate School Funding last month, after the organization's executive director, Joe Martin, and Jeff Welch, superintendent of Oglethorpe County schools, spoke on behalf of the ongoing law suit.

Welch and Martin had summed up the history of state funding cutbacks, saying that state funding formulas had not increased since the 1980s, with the exception of salaries, and that years of pleading with lawmakers had not improved the situation. The burden of school funding is now falling more and more on local property taxpayers, which hurt rural school systems disproportionately.

Martin said that Georgia legisla- tors had counseled him that the only real option was to sue the state, and nearly a third of the school systems in Georgia have joined the suit. In the suit, the Consortium charges that the state constitution says, "the provision of adequate education shall be the obligation of the state," but the state is not living up to that obligation. They are asking the state to raise the starting point for funding to an adequate level.

The lawsuit is set to go to trial in October, Martin said, in hopes that a decision will force the state to improve its funding of school systems across the state.

The Wilkes County system joins the lawsuit as an affiliate member, only because the cost of full membership had not been budgeted for this year.

Superintendent Joyce Williams had introduced the vote to join the lawsuit by saying that Governor Sonny Perdue had announced the FY09 state funding will be cut by 2 percent, and a further 3 percent the following year. "The state expects us to take up the slack," she said, "and it's a very real problem. We have a spending freeze in place until we see how this thing plays out."

In another long-term effort, the school board voted to pursue system wide SACS accreditation. Although the high school holds SACS accreditation, Williams said, and some Wilkes educators have participated in accreditation teams evaluating other schools, the entire Wilkes County school system needed to be accredited.

"Businesses look at this when they consider coming here," said Dr. Rosemary Caddell, Director of Curriculum and Instruction. "It's a stamp of approval, and being without it raises doubts when a company is considering Wilkes County."

The board agreed to complete the require paperwork to support the pursuit of accreditation.

In other actions, the board approved an out-of-state trip for sponsors and FFA officers to the annual FFA National Convention in Indianapolis.

The board also voted to pay $30,069 for the county's state-mandated membership in RESA, and voted to pay $15,000 in legal fees for the school financing issue. "That was cheap for what we got," Board member Steven Albertson said.

Board members also approved of a request by Supervisor of Elections Judge Jim Burton to have a handicap parking area paved near the Young Farmers Building. A grant is available for the work, Williams said. Chairman Ricky Callaway urged caution not to damage the roots of the old oaks that shade the area.

The board approved a proclamation declaring October 17 to be Blue Out Day in support of the Washington- Wilkes Comprehensive High School Tigers game against Lincoln County that day.

High school Principal Steve Echols told board members that the school had been given state awards for the greatest gains in end-of-course testing in ninth grade literature and physical science.

The meeting started out with a request from the North Alexander School Association, represented by Bill Bennett. NASA has applied for a historic preservation grant, and the grant requires that the building be covered by a historic covenant for five years. Bennett had a draft survey, but did not have a draft of the proposed covenant. The board agreed to move forward with the proposal, and would look at the survey and covenant at a future meeting.

Frank Foster of Linc Energy Solutions made a presentation for the board to consider the services of his company to optimize energy savings in existing buildings, and to "help the system go green." The company is working with 100 school systems throughout the state, Foster said, and proposed to do a preliminary survey to see how much the company could save the school system here. The board will consider the plan at a later meeting.

In her construction update, Williams said that the high school and middle school principals had their rooms to assign, and are doing a furniture inventory to decide and mark items that won't make the move.

The school complex was on track to be completed by mid-January, she said.

In the board financial report, Elaine Wheatley said that the fiscal year was finalized, there was no word on the tax digest, and no tax money coming in. "We're okay on the payroll, but not forever."

The board members discussed steps they might take if the tax digest is further delayed due to the number of assessment appeals. "We've done this before," Callaway said.

The meeting adjourned into Executive Session for personnel.