Starkville School District expects to maintain its 10-percent fund balance another year, but the $46 million budget calls for just two new teacher assistants to be added along with a handful of other professionals.
Officials heard a positive picture of finances Tuesday night in the public hearing on the budget. Only five members of the public were on hand for the hearing, which also had just four members of the school board.
Board President Keith Coble said Pickett Wilson was absent because a relative is employed by the school district. She is staying out of budget decisions to avoid a conflict of interest.
“This is a much more rosy picture than we talked about two years ago,” Coble said of the proposed budget.
The proposed budget has projected revenues of $45.9 million and proposed expenditures of $44.3 million. The budget calls for no tax increase, keeping school millage at 62.24 mills, the same as last year, district comptroller Rob Logan said.
“The projected local revenue is based on an estimate of assessed value looking at growth over the last eight years,” Logan said. “It is based on 1.75 percent growth. That”s a very conservative (growth) estimate.”
Acting Superintendent Beth Sewell presented the proposed budget, including a $1.4 million list of budget requests. The budget requests, along with anticipated 5-percent pay raises for non-teaching positions, can be filled from the excess of projected revenues over expenditures.
The budget requests are:
- Sudduth: A curriculum technology/lab teacher and two teacher assistants
- Henderson-Ward Stewart: Three regular teachers and two lead teachers (non-teaching positions which some board members called administrators)
- Armstrong: Three regular teachers, a JROTC instructor, nurse, counselor and assistant principal
- Starkville High: Regular teacher and curriculum and special education coordinator
- Transportation and Maintenance: Two new buses, two used buses and two used trucks
- Districtwide: Testing coordinator, two technology and one accounting office employees, two school resource officers, a curriculum and an athletic secretary, a federal programs director, and increases to some part-time positions, Title 1 secretary and administrative secretary salaries
As the budget was presented, the board asked questions about such things as the curriculum positions, the testing coordinator, the school resource officer, the value of used buses and the location of school resource officers.
Sewell said enrollment is growing, with large classes coming up through the lower grades. Some of the hires are needed to keep up with student numbers.
The presentation and question and comment session turned to the topic of teacher assistants, or TAs. Coble said that adding two TAs back at Sudduth “gives them more breathing room.”
Eric Heiselt went further and questioned why the proposed budget calls for just two TAs but five administrators. He said the allocation of positions “causes me concern” to hire the more expensive administrative positions.
“If you”re talking about bang for your buck, administrators come at a very high price tag,” Heiselt said.
In response, Sewell said the proposals were based on budget requests which came from building level and program administrators. She said the district was in a position to grant needs, and this is what was requested.
Lee Brand asked about the high fund balance. The district is expected to maintain for a second year its 10 percent fund balance, which is higher than the 7-percent recommended by the Mississippi Department of Education.
“Is the fund balance being that high best serving the kids in the classroom?” Brand asked. “What if we kept it at 9 percent?”
Logan and Sewell both said that budget requests from administrators were met in this budget, and keeping a high fund balance allows the district to respond to priorities when they are presented.
The board allowed members of the public in attendance to speak or ask questions at the conclusion of the presentation. Three did, and all spoke of the need to put people back in the classrooms where they can deal directly and individually with students.
The board will vote on the budget at their July 5 meeting. They will meet again June 28 in the Greensboro Auditorium at 6 p.m. to learn about school board governance and to handle some business related to the superintendent search.
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