School system comptroller Keith

Chapman is the man in the crosshairs.

With reports circulating that

the school system has to trim nearly $11 million from this year's

budget, Chapman has been coming under fire for some of the system's

proposed cuts.

But the comptroller explains

that the school system is months away from approving its budget.

"We're really dealing

with a moving target. Nobody really knows how much the system is going

to have to cut this year," he said.

The most bandied-about figure

has been between $10-11 million, but Chapman said the school system won't

know until the General Assembly establishes the budget.

Many political observers thought

this year's session would be relatively short, but this week a monkey

wrench got thrown into the works.

"Now that they're

going to have to redraw the legislative districts, it could take them

even more time to finish the budget," Chapman said.

When the state's budget

is finally approved, Chapman has no doubt the system will have to cut

some programs.

"Nearly 88 percent of

our budget is salary and benefits, so there's not a whole lot of

things left to cut," he said.

The school system's millage

rate currently stands at 18.61 mills. If the system were to raise it to

the maximum 20 mills, the system would only gain an additional $3.5 million,

which would still leave the system far short of a balanced budget.

"The school board is facing

a challenging few months," Chapman added.