DODDS-Europe facing a major budget shortfall

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DODDS-Europe facing a major budget shortfall
By Scott Schonauer, Stars and Stripes
European edition, Wednesday, April 30, 2008

KAISERSLAUTERN, Germany — The weak U.S. dollar has put Defense Department schools overseas in one of the biggest financial binds in years, causing a budgetary shortfall that could require additional help from the Pentagon.

The Department of Defense Educational Activity’s spokesman said the financial situation is worse than past years because the dollar has plummeted, but officials are positive they can overcome the deficit by “realigning funds.”

“We’re confident we’ll get the relief we need,” DODEA spokesman Frank O’Gara said Tuesday by telephone from Arlington, Va. But the school system, which operates on a $1.5 billion budget worldwide, is not sure where the money is going to come from.

Claudia Shaw, DODEA’s chief financial officer, said it will be a month or more before they have an idea where they’re going to move the money from. If officials can’t make up the loss internally, she said the last resort would be to go to the Office of the Secretary of Defense and request additional money.

The system’s top administrators refused to release the size of the budget shortfall. O’Gara said they will not reveal how big it is because “we don’t want to alarm” parents and teachers, when officials believe the shortfall will be resolved.


Rest of article at: http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=54433