The Columbus Municipal School Board will meet Saturday to discuss the district’s budget for the 2013-2014 school year.
According to state law, all school districts must submit a budget to the Mississippi Department of Education by Aug. 15. State law also mandates the school board hold a public budget hearing at least one week prior to submitting the budget. The district held a public hearing last Saturday.
With a student enrollment of 4,650 and 585 employees, the district projected $42,683,164 in revenue for the current school year. That number has increased from $40,484,567 in the 2012-2013 school year.
Of the $42,683,164, the largest portion of the money will come from the state ($20,174,536). Local funding will account for $13,619,582, and federal funding will be $8,889,046.
Locally, $12,884,194 will come from ad valorem taxes. Interim schools superintendent Edna McGill said the district will not ask the city for an increase in millage.
“We have a budget that adequately supports the needs of our district and will not cause us to request an increase in millage,” she said.
The district estimates overall expenditures at $42,525,062. Of that amount, $21,923,786 will go toward instructional services.
In the absence of a chief financial officer, the board hired CPA and former Lowndes County School District business manager Frances Goldmon for a 20 day-period to replace CFO Kenneth Hughes, who was fired May 3 by then-schools superintendent Dr. Martha Liddell. The CMSD board fired Liddell on June 17.
McGill said she was pleased with how the budget came together.
“The process has moved very smoothly,” she said. “We feel really good about it and we’re really pleased with the support we’ve received form our board and the input we’ve received from the community. We’re really pleased with it.”
The board will hold a special meeting at Brandon Central offices Saturday morning at 8:30 a.m. to approve the budget.
Sarah Fowler covered crime, education and community related events for The Dispatch.
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