Dallas County School Board members may have to get creative.

Craig Pouncey, assistant state superintendent for financial and administrative services, visited school board members Friday to discuss possible changes to make up for lost funding from proration.

Already, the proposed 2011 state budget is less $350 million than the current prorated budget.

“With budget cuts and back to back years of proration, I just wanted to encourage them to continue managing like they have managed,” Pouncey said.

He is dedicated to helping school boards brace for this change in funding and has traveled around the state to assist in budgeting brainstorming.

One of the ideas board members have is to add a one-cent sales tax increase for Dallas County.

Pouncey estimates this could generate about $3.3 million per year for local budgeting. A portion of this amount would then be allocated to the schools system.