The Overton County Board of Education is prioritizing staff retention and recruitment while navigating the new TISA funding formula.
Board Chairman Mitchell Stonecipher said the board is working to maintain consistent funding levels following the state legislature’s shift away from the Basic Education Program. Stonecipher said the state now verifies student enrollment nearly once a month. The school district can lose up to $8,000 in funding per student lost.
“We have to prioritize,” Stonecipher said. “As with any business, your people are your top priority and they are your greatest asset. Our teachers, our students, our families are our greatest asset. Without them, we do not have a school district. And so, we have to make sure that we are recruiting and retaining top-notch staff, which I think we have and compensate as much as we can, both by the mandate from the state and what we have available in order to do so locally.”
Stonecipher said the school system is entering the next year with a balanced budget despite funding remaining relatively flat. Stonecipher said the district is avoiding adding extra full-time positions to the workforce to ensure the system functions properly within its means.
“Our problem is not our elected officials,” Stonecipher said. “Our problem is the fact that we do live in an area where we just don’t have the revenue and we do have to compete with other school districts that lie next to us.”
Vying for talented educators with neighboring Putnam County, Stonecipher said it can be difficult to simultaneously offer incentive pay and benefits to attract teachers and staff, all while balancing a budget with limited revenue.
“For instance, Putnam County, whose tax base is so much better than ours,” Stonecipher said. “As you heard, we were talking about the substitute teacher issue. We, Jackson County, everyone has to compete against that better tax base. And so it is good for the staff because it forces the school districts to be able to compensate them as they need to be compensated, but it makes it harder on the school districts who do not have that tax base to compete with a better tax base like Putnam County.”
Stonecipher said the board has a strong relationship with the local county commissioners who support the school program. Stonecipher said the district must be judicious with taxpayer dollars because there is little fluctuation in local tax revenue from year to year.
“We have to keep in mind what our top priorities are, make sure that we are meeting those top priorities, and moving the program forward,” Stonecipher said. “You have to make sure just like you would at home. You have to make sure you are not going out and buying luxury purchases that you will regret, you know, have buyer’s remorse for.”
Stonecipher said the district previously used COVID-19 relief funds for long-term infrastructure needs such as roofing and air conditioning. Stonecipher said addressing high-expense items, like air conditioning maintenance and roofing repair, while the short-term federal funding was available helped protect the school facilities for the future.
“Knowing that the COVID funding was short-term and was going to expire at some point, we tried to be very judicious and very conscientious of the money that we spent to make sure that it would not just serve us during that COVID era but also help to maintain the school infrastructure and facilities into the future,” Stonecipher said.
Stonecipher said the board will evaluate the possibility of further pay raises once enrollment figures are finalized for the coming year.
