The audience applauded not once, but twice, during the school system's FY13 budget hearing on May 29. Most reports of school budget hearings in Georgia read more like funeral wakes. But ours was different. While we aren't completely out of the woods, our finances are moving in the right direction.
I'll get to the applause soon, but let me start with the basics.
- Our total FY2013 budget is $118,544,000.
- For FY13 alone, we will be shorted over $7.4 million we are entitled to under the State's funding formula. Since 2003, we've been shorted $43 million.
- Much of the general fund budget drop is the result of lower State budget appropriations for education. The State budget doesn't have enough money to cover full formula earnings.
- The general fund, covering basic operations, accounts for two-thirds of the total at $73,643,000.
- We began the budget creation process faced with declining state funding, predictions of a severe drop in local tax digest values, and increases in health insurance premiums.
Our initial budget estimated a $6.4 million deficit. Many of you played a pivotal role when over 50 individuals came together in 5 teams to consider cost reduction ideas, many of which you submitted. The teams recommended $2.5 million in cuts. In addition, the adopted 2012-13 calendar included 10 cut days for employees, and 5 for students. At that time, most of the deficit was closed. Then came Spring.
Spring usually brings an air of optimism and good feeling, except when the legislature is in session. However, unexpected good news came from Atlanta this year. While the funding formula was still underfunded, a change was made to a state grant that targets lower wealth school districts, including Spalding County, which let us receive of a larger percentage of the total grant. (Spalding ranks 128 out of the 180 Georgia counties in property wealth per student.)
The County (government) worked on the 2012 tax digest and found that values would not decline as originally feared. In fact, those values may remain fairly level with the last year.
When the dust settled, we learned our school system would receive about $2 million more in state funds than originally estimated. And, with the tax digest estimated to remain fairly level, there was no huge loss of local property tax revenue.
To make a long story short, this left us a FY13 budget surplus of about $2.3 million!
- Dr. Jones has made no secret of his desire to see all employee work days restored to the employee calendar as soon as possible. Therefore, at our FY13 budget hearing, the restoration of five work days to the employee calendar was announced, leaving a total of only five work days cut from the work year (first applause line). That's better than the six "work schedule adjustment days" we had this year.
- We announced that thanks to a cooperative agreement between our system and the Spalding County Sheriff's Department, all middle schools would continue being served by a full-time school resource officer in 2012-13 (second applause line).
- Finally, our budget also includes a large increase in the employer's share of health insurance costs for classified employees.
Sustainability was front and center when we studied other cut expenditures. We need to add back the remaining five work days, cover known increases in health care premiums, and restore other cuts in a manner that allows our school system to remain financially stable without getting into a cycle of cutting/restoring/cutting/restoring, etc. If we add restore something, we don't want to have to cut it again.
I'm optimistic about our finances and our ability to be sustainable in the years to come. Thank you for your help in developing a budget plan that allows us to give the best possible instructional program to our students.
