Putnam County Schools officials are facing a $5.1 million budget gap for the upcoming fiscal year as the board approved the first draft of the budget Thursday night.
Director of Schools Corby King said the school system is entering the fourth year of a five-year strategic plan that prioritizes academic achievement and personnel retention. King said the district must now account for sustaining programs previously funded by grants, including a $4.5 million Innovative Schools Model grant that requires the district to pick up a larger share of expenses each year.
“To cut all of that would be detrimental to some of our programs,” King said. “I don’t think in Putnam County we want to make these drastic cuts, I know we don’t want to make them. I think there’s an avenue here where we can work with the commission and close that and get to a place that we’re balanced and we’re all comfortable with the budget as proposed.”
School board members will meet with the Putnam County Commission on Monday to discuss ways to settle the difference.
King said the proposed budget includes some $5.7 million in salary and benefit increases, including a $1,500 raise for certified staff and a three percent increase for non-certified employees to help reduce staff turnover.
King said the district is also facing nearly $4 million in other rising costs, such as an $800,000 chiller replacement at Cookeville High School and $128,000 for athletic trainer services for STAR Physical Therapy.
“We want to make sure that we’re putting the resources that we’re given to where you all said we want to put them and what we want to prioritize,” King said. “This budget includes those priorities and then also sustaining funds through the ISM, the Innovative Schools Model CTE grant.”
King said the district is losing funding due to a decrease in student enrollment under the state’s TISA funding formula. King said the system is reducing 10 teaching positions and one central office supervisor position to save approximately $1 million in response.
Board Member Lynn McHenry said the previous investments into the school system since the COVID-19 pandemic spurred academic achievement for county students. Now, McHenry said students and teachers are expected to maintain that level of performance amidst rising costs.
“Make sure that if you have an opportunity, to let your either your representative or congressperson or somebody at the state level know that we need the funding to continue to be able to make the improvements that we have seen, and we have definitely seen them,” McHenry said. “So that’s the reason we have this gap to a large extent. And we want to be able to close it. We appreciate being able to work with the commission. We have a great relationship with them and they have been very helpful over the last few years to help us close that. And we look forward to to that joint session with them.”