NEWBERRY COUNTY — After a two hour executive session, the Newberry County School Board met the evening of May 8 to discuss the revenue projections and budget for the 2023-24 school year.
Per current projections for 2024, anticipated revenue will leave the school system $370,148 short of expected expenses, even with an increase of four mills (approximately $424,000) added to local taxes.
Newberry School District Chief Financial Officer Susan Dowd presented the revenue projections and expected expenditures and explained that part of the reason for the deficit, so far, has been that the S.C. Legislature has not yet produced its budget, on which the school districts depend for funding and guidance.
“There’s speculation that part of the reason for the delay is that the legislature hasn’t yet decided what to do with the comptroller general position,” she said.
That state-level position was vacated after a major error in accounting practices was discovered after 10 years.
The projected expenditure budget reflects a number of mandated and other increases over the 2022-23 budget, some of which are significantly high. For example, there is an estimated legislative 25% increase to the state’s minimum salary for school bus drivers that amounts to $198,632. The teacher salary increase to the state minimum, plus 3.5% per longevity step alone amounts to $1,614,549. Other budget increases include maintenance and improvement costs for schools.
The addition of four mills to local taxes was the subject of some discussion. Board Member Gerdi Lake expressed opposition to the millage increase, saying that: “We should really hesitate to add more millage this year.” Clarification: Regarding Lake’s comment, she was addressing an increase due to reassessment as opposed to a millage increase from the district.
On the other hand, Board Member Lucy Anne Meetze argued that: “If we don’t increase millage, we go significantly in the hole. At some point, we need to know where the county wants to go.”
Board Member Jody Hamm commented: “The state has put the burden on the backs of the localities.”
Additional work on the budget will be done as the state and county clarify their budget stance in coming weeks.
In other discussions, the board considered the distribution of digital devices, such as tablets and laptops, to students for them to continue learning over the summer. Superintendent Alvin Pressley said that, “6,000 devices were distributed (in the COVID-19 emergency.)”
Many of those devices would be sent out again after upgrades to software, which includes detection, prevention, and reporting of attempted inappropriate use of the devices.
“We checked with other districts,” he said. “Many of them are doing it.”
Considerable concern was expressed by board members about the number of devices that would be returned and damage that might occur to them. There was also concern about the number of spares available.
Pressley explained: “Devices coming back damaged is always expected. There is an insurance cost to be paid by parents. We won’t know until we try it.”