BY TRACY LEE TATE
Special to the Times
District Finance Director Renae Prevatt said school district revenues and expenses are up for the coming year over the 2022-2023 budget.
Last year’s federal funds, including special revenue CARES Act funds in the amount of $1,585,804, totaled $3,990,700, while for the coming fiscal year, the total is $6,857,304, with $3,575,513 in special revenue funds from the CARES Act, and ESSER and ARP.
These funds will go away in the coming year and are not expected to be renewed. Depending on the funding source’s requirements, all must be expended and drawn by either June 30, 2024, or Sept. 30, 2024.
State funds are also up for the 2023-24 budget year to $19,258,741 from the previous year’s figure of $17,802,770. Local funding is also up, with $3,927,911 for the new year, increasing over last year’s figure of $2,182,314.
These revenue sources, combined with transfers in and fund balances, total $35,073,963, up from the previous year’s total of $30,266,395.
According to Prevatt, expenditures are up in all areas, mainly associated with employee costs.
Instruction: salaries for teachers and related staff is the single largest line item in budgeted expenditures and shows the most significant increase over 2022-2023.
Last year, it cost the district $13,352,624 to pay its instructional staff. For the 2023-24 fiscal year, the forecast is $16,006,655, due in part to a pay raise approved in the 22-23 budget year to align the district with what instructional staff is being paid in other nearby districts.
One plus for the district is that, for the first time in 15 years, it will not be making Qualified Zone Academy Bond payments, as these were completed in the 22-23 fiscal year.
