July 8, 2020
By: Dwayne Page
Pay raises and funds for purchasing land to build a new elementary school highlight the proposed 2020-21 budget adopted by the Board of Education Tuesday night.
Under the plan, teachers and other certified staff will get a $1,000 pay raise while non certified employees will be given a $500 raise. This is less than what was included in the original plan adopted in May ($2,000 raise for teachers and $1,000 for support staff) but the board had to revisit its budget after the Governor and Legislature cut spending in the 2020-21 state budget due to the impact on revenues because of COVID-19.
During a work session prior to Tuesday night’s regular monthly School Board meeting, Director of Schools Patrick Cripps announced that the state has cut $250,000 in Basic Education Program (BEP) funding from the proposed budget but that the school system can absorb the loss by not filling the positions of four teachers who recently retired. Cripps said those positions are currently not needed due to fewer students. According to Cripps, the school system can still afford to fund the pay raises locally without help from the state and still have a healthy fund balance (reserves) of at least $800,000 by the end of the fiscal year next June.
The board was presented two options, a new budget with and without the pay raises. The Board chose to adopt the budget with the raises. Director Cripps also floated the idea of giving bonuses rather than raises, but the board opted for raises instead of bonuses and Cripps agreed.
Funds are also included in the school budget for the purchase of 24.5 acres of property on North Congress Boulevard near Northside Elementary School for construction of a new pre-K to 2nd grade elementary school. The price is $18,000 per acre for a total of $441,000. The purchase is subject to a favorable TDOT traffic study. The school budget includes $500,000 from the BEP technology fund to cover the cost.
The new revised proposed 2020-21 school budget will be presented for approval by the county budget committee Thursday night, July 9 at 6 p.m. at the courthouse. If it gets the okay there, the budget will be forwarded to the full county commission for adoption along with budgets for all other county departments on July 27.