Putnam County School Board members favor the proposal to revert school system funding to 50 percent of the sales tax revenue from the current flat rate method.
Kim Cravens said the change has been in discussion for years. Cravens said when the county changed to the flat after the 2008 recession, it was a blessing.
“The problem with that is that the flat rate has remained just that, a flat rate,” Cravens said. “Whereas when there’s a percentage, when there’s a growth in that sales tax revenue, you would get the growth money from that. So, essentially, that was good the first couple years it was in, then we really didn’t get any growth money.”
Jill Ramsey said the funding change has been a discussion since she joined the board in 2022. Ramsey said the flat rate funding paired with rapid cost increases have made it challenging to keep up.
“When we go to meetings at the state level, I don’t know of any other district that uses a flat rate,” Ramsey said. “And they’re pretty surprised when we say we’re on the flat rate.”
Cravens said a lack of growth money made it harder for the board to plan, but the new proposal will help school funding consistently increase. Cravens said the proposal would increase funding by some $2 million in the upcoming fiscal year, but that is still not enough to close the $4.82 million gap.
Cravens said the School Board will need to look into using money from fund balance to cover the remaining expenses. Cravens said it is important to keep a healthy fund balance, but also make sure the schools are adequately funded.
Cravens said now was the right time for the proposal because the County Commission could be more open to it than in previous years.
“I believe 50 percent is the minimum that [the Commission is] required to meet,” Cravens said. “We were probably close to maybe going under that, so this puts it at the threshold where it needs to be.”
The proposal was brought before the Putnam County Commission’s Budget Committee by director of Schools Corby King at a June 5th meeting.
