Officials with the Richmond County school board predict that the system could face more than $5 million in cuts to state funding when the new legislative session begins in January.

According to officials, the Richmond County school board has already worked up several different scenarios detailing how they would respond to cuts ranging from $2 million to $5 million. Some measures in those plans include cutting back operating expenses and requiring employee furloughs.

Board member Jack Padgett says he is concerned about the effect the potential cuts are having on employee morale.

"I don't go anywhere in public where someone doesn't stop and ask me about how many more cuts they are going to have to take. But at the same time we're all in this game together and we've got to keep the right attitude that we've got to survive and move on and be a little optimistic about things changing for the better".

Some other options on the table, according to Padgett, are the possibility of going to a four day school week and even cutting full days of instruction from the 180 day school year.

Tags: Augusta, budget cuts, Jack Padgett, Richmond County School Board