Jackson County Schools receiving its first increase in state funding since the implementation of a new funding formula due to rising student enrollment and strategic financial management.
Director of Schools Jason Hardy said the school system expects an increase of approximately $600,000 to $700,000 in state funds compared to the previous year. Hardy said the district has made a deliberate effort to maximize revenue by accurately coding student participation in certain programs.
“We know how to get the money, so we try to squeeze out every dollar, whether it is a CTE class at the high school or that is an ACT score, or that is something at the elementary or middle school level that we can get a bonus because they made a certain score on certain tests,” Hardy said. “So they have kind of laid it out there how we can do it.”
Hardy said the school system is preparing to fund two new roofs and a building addition using existing resources.
“If we weren’t in good shape, then we couldn’t do some of these things that we’re doing,” Hardy said. “We’re not asking, we’re not getting a loan, we’re not asking people for money.”
Hardy said the state funding level is protected by a “funding forward” number that prevents the allocation from dropping below the current amount for at least one more year. Hardy said that while enrollment across Tennessee has generally declined, Jackson County has seen its numbers begin to climb back up.
“So yeah, that will be our funding forward number,” Hardy said. “But super happy because as you know, enrollment across the states went down.”
Hardy said the district is also managing rising costs, including a 10 percent increase in health insurance premiums. Hardy said the school system budgeted to absorb that entire increase so that employees would not see a decrease in their take-home pay.
