By David Meade
Anderson School District One Superintendent David Havird presented a slightly revised budget to the board for approval during their regular monthly meeting Tuesday.
The changes from the draft version included additional projected revenues and related expenditure of adding a K5 teacher and unspecified salary increases.
According the Havird, the $62,858,766 budget reflects changes in the House and Senate State budget for reading coaches. Havird said the senate has asked for additional money for part-time reading coaches which could save District One $150,000 to $200,000 if it is approved.
He also stated that delinquent tax collections were being revised from $210,000 up to $302,000.
During discussion, Havird said that the Fee in Lieu payments from the county will continue to decrease as the county and state continue to offer incentives to attract new businesses.
Local sources revenues are expected to increase by $92,000.
He said District One has the largest growth of schools in the county at 3.4 percent and the CPI index is at 2.5-2.6.
Staffing changes reflected in the revised budget include Elementary school staffing adding 3.5 FTE, Middle school staffing unchanged, and Powdersville High School increasing 1 FTE, while Wren High losing one. Palmetto High will gain 2 FTE. There will be two .5 FTE positions added for strings and ESOL.
The budget reflects a adding a total of 6.5 FTE teachers. Related professional staffing and benefits for the 6.5 FTE amounts to $325,000.
Staffing and enrollment projects for individual schools are projected as follows:
Elementary Staffing includes 3.5 FTE. Powdersville Elementary expects enrollment of 28 new students, to 588 and will be adding 2.5 FTE.
Palmetto Elementary expects enrollment to increase by six students and will be adding 1 FTE.
All other elementary schools, except West Pelzer and Cedar Grove, are expecting small increases but will not need additional staffing.
Cedar Grove is expected to remain the same at 608 students. West Pelzer is expected to decrease from 456 to 450.
For elementary schools, student to teacher ratio is based on 23.5 to 1.
Middle School staffing is based on student/teacher ratio of 24.5 to 1 in core and 25-1 in related.
According to Havird, middle school classes have been large for several years and the district is using a new funding formula which takes into account the middle school schedule and teaming philosophy.
The old formula is total # non-S/C student divided by 24.5. The new formula adds additional related teachers as follows: Avg # students/grade divided by 25.
Middle School Staffing will require no new staff. Enrollment is expected to decrease from 636 at Powdersville Middle to 582; decrease from 795 at Wren Middle to 727 and decrease from 805 at Palmetto Middle to 760.
Palmetto High enrollment is projected to increase from 981 to 1077 and will require 2 FTE teachers;
Wren High is expected to increase from 1106 to 1166 and staffing will decrease one FTE due to Wren carrying an additional FTE during the opening of Powdersville High.
Powdersville High is projected to increase from enrollment of 788 to 840 and will require one additional FTE.
Net staffing results in the need for two FTE for high school, 3.5 for elementary and 1 FTE, .5 for strings and .5 for ESOL.
The 6.5 professional staff increase will result in an additional $325,000 cost for the district in salary and benefits.
Expenditure changes in the budget include: K5 teacher, $42,000; Fringe benefits $20,000 and personnel salary increases of $30,000 for a total of $92,000.
The final budget was approved by the board Tuesday and will be presented to the county board on Monday June 8.
A report given by Havird on capital projects related to the one cent local option education sales tax will be addressed in the next issue of The Journal.
