The Putnam County School System beginning the budget process with a $5.1 million gap.
Putnam County Director of Schools Corby King told the School Board Thursday night that expenses are up some $6.3 million. King said administrators have worked hard in the budget to prioritize investment in students.
“I think it’s important, one, for the community and everyone to know that we are still working on the goals and what we said we were going to, but also that we’re achieving the results we’re setting out to achieve,” King said. “And I think that’s important because the funds, the plan, it all works together.”
King said cuts have already been made to maintenance allocation, and fuel costs. King said eight teaching vacancies will not be filled next school year.
But King said the system did not want to reduce recent investments that are showing benefit to the county’s youth.
“We’ve also invested $6 million in new employees to increase student achievement across the district,” King said. “These are RTI employees, CTE employees, virtual school, and lots of programs where we’re seeing good success.”
King’s presentation said the largest expense is personnel. Some $4.7 million in the year’s budget increase comes from personnel. That includes the work to increase teacher salaries to meet state requirements. This year, the system will increase pay scales by $1,500.
“By state law, we’re mandated to be at a $50-thousand starting salary,” King said. “Lots of our neighbors, lots of districts across the state are at that level. But we are meeting the requirement, We’re staying on pace, but we do need to have that increase in order to be at the $50-thousand minimum.”
Non-certified staff will receive a 2.7 percent increase.
The system expecting an increase in TISA funding from the state, though King noted it will not be enough to keep up with expenses.
The School System used some $1.7 million from its fund balance last year to balance the budget. King said doing that again would still leave the system with a deficit.
“My recommendation tonight is that we present draft one with that $5 million dollar gap,” King said. “Work with the county commissioners at, you know, what do they want to see, what investment in the community. We see the benefits for our students, we see the student successes, we see the achievements. We want to continue that. So we’re going to go in hopeful for some increased funding from the county commissioners, from our local community.”
