The Clay County Schools’ new budget includes the state-mandated $50,000 starting salary for certified employees.
Board Chairman Benji Bailey said the district maintains a salary schedule that honors up to 20 years of service to help retain high-quality staff. Like many school districts in the region, Bailey said they are struggling with reduced state funding and enrollment.
“Our employees and wages, that’s the biggest piece of our budget,” Bailey said. “So with decreased enrollment, sometimes you have positions that you don’t need. Fortunately we haven’t had to let anyone go or anything like that, but with just the normal turnover that you experience in a school system. But that’s the biggest piece of it, we have to analyze our needs.”
Bailey said the budget also accounts for rising insurance premiums and essential transportation costs for the bus fleet. Bailey said the district is still in a healthy place financially.
“Nothing out of the ordinary, but still we’ll have to keep a close eye on things to monitor our big expenditures just to make sure that we’re not too far out of line with our budget because of the decreased funding,” Bailey said.
Bailey said the board had to navigate a decrease in state funding caused by a drop in student enrollment under the TISA formula.
“We were able to give raises for across the board for this current year, not only at that entry level, but the raises are across the board,” Bailey said. “We’ve got a lot of good employees and we want to keep those whenever possible.”
Bailey said the school system is utilizing fund balances built up over previous years to offset the current reduction in state support. Bailey said the board will continue to evaluate capital projects throughout the year, such as paving, floor resurfacing and heating and cooling repairs, based on available funding.
“Obviously, again, we hate to see the decrease in state funding, but still it’s kind of the hand we’re dealt at this point based on enrollment,” Bailey said. “And things do ebb and flow as time goes as well.”
Bailey said the board reached a consensus on the budget following an extended planning meeting and coordination with Finance Director Ashley White and Director of Schools Diana Monroe.
“A lot of hard work goes into it by our staff, and then the board spends some time just getting their mind around it,” Bailey said. “With the confidence that we have in our director and our finance director, it makes this process a lot easier, but still a lot to get your mind around, and but no issues in passing it.”