Greenville County Schools Presents First Reading of the FY 18 General Fund Budget
The School District of Greenville County is the 44th largest in the nation in terms of student population and today the administration presented its proposed FY 18 General Fund Budget for first reading at a Special Called Meeting of the Board of Trustees.
The proposed budget is balanced, as required by Board Policy, and reflects revenue and expenditures totaling $596,618,000. Considering the projected growth in student population for FY 18, the recommended budget equates to a cost of approximately $32 per day, per student, for the 245 days in which the District operates each year. The proposed budget is based on the Senate version of the State budget and could be adjusted once the State Budget is finalized.
The bulk of the new expenditures in the FY 18 General Fund Budget are for employee compensation (a State-mandated step increase for teachers and 3% cost of living raise for teachers at the end of the step schedule and for all other employees), required additional employer contributions for State health, dental, and retirement funds, positions added to the General Fund Budget for student growth, positions moved to the General Fund due to the reduction in Special Revenue Funds, technology funding that is being moved to the General Fund due to other Special Revenue Fund reductions, enhanced flex allocations for each school to provide site-based academic supports, and a District-wide assessment system that meets an unresolved recommendation from the most recent accreditation cycle and helps teachers better measure and respond to students’ academic needs.
The proposed FY 18 budget includes a 2.3 mill increase to the current tax rate. Under the provisions of Act 388, taxes for school districts’ general fund are not levied on owner-occupied homes in South Carolina. According to Act 388’s formula, the GCS Board has the authority to levy up to 12.4 mills to meet population growth and the Consumer Price Index (CPI). Of those 12.4 mills, 8.5 are carryover mills that were not utilized by the Board of Trustees over the last three years. An additional 3.9 mills were generated for FY 18 by the most recent growth and CPI numbers. School funding is set up in South Carolina to be a shared responsibility between the State and local taxpayers.
The second reading of the budget and request for final approval will take place at the J. Floyd Hall Central Office on Monday, May 22, at 6:30 p.m., following a 6 p.m. public hearing for the purpose of receiving feedback from the community.