The Horry County Board of Education voted Monday night to make it one step closer to give teachers raises. They also approved giving taxpayers a small break on their property taxes and cutting nearly $15 million from their budget.
More than 50 parents, students and teachers came out Monday to hear just how they would be affected by this budget. The school board members have been hashing through the $500 million budget since January. The board's vote confirmed a list of 20 line items outside of the district office worth $13.6 million.
Here is the full list of cuts outside of the district office:
- Positions reduced: 64 FTE-$4,746,369
- Substitutes-$290,000
- Title 1 Stimulus: positions and materials-$3,000,000
- IDEA Stimulus: materials and support-$4,000,000
- Technical Assistance: positions and materials-$252,263
- American History Project-$323,047
- Reduction in Primary/Elementary Summer School-$520,370
- Elimination of WIA program-$184,725
- Fine Arts Program Support-$22,338
- Gifted and Advanced Placement Support-$47,153
- CCU Scholars Academy-$18,105
- Dual Credit Course-$35,625
- Environmental Education-Playcard-$2,016
- Term Life Insurance-$11,200
- District Wide Testing-$90,657
- Telephone-Local and Long Distance Service-$3,525
- English to Speakers of Other Languages and Adult Ed Support-$13,456
Total reductions exclusive of district office was $13,626,984. They also approved cutting another $1.2 million from the district office.
None of the cuts resulted in layoffs, Board Vice Chair Joe DeFeo said, "In staffing and personnel that does not particularly involve layoffs. It's you know through attrition and other means of reorganization."
On January 31, Horry County Schools Finance Director Jeff Riddle braced school board members for a $19.2 million shortfall. Just three and a half months later, he's pitching pay raises. He's also recommending a 2 mill tax cut in property taxes.
On May 10th, Riddle said that originally projected shortfall is now a surplus of $25 million in undesignated reserve funds. Where did this change in money come from? Cuts, Riddle said at the time, including eliminating a million dollars in district office spending, $290,000 in substitute teachers, and recalculating what Riddle calls an athletic supplement that was overstated in the 2010-2011 budget.
"Second, the Senate Finance Committee budget provided about $8 million more in Education Finance Act funding than the house budget," he added.
Riddle said that there are an additional 706 new students in the district for the 2011 school year. The state pays $1,788 per student, bringing in nearly $10 million more than the 2010 school year.
The budget also includes pay increases for 82 percent of teachers, something they haven't done in two years. Teacher raises are based on the district's STEP program, which is based on experience. Riddle says substitute teachers, temporary employees, and those on the highest paid end of the STEP scale make up for the others not eligible for pay raises.
Board members also discussed increasing their substitute teacher pay raises by $5 a day. At a previous budget meeting, Riddle had said substitutes earn $60 a day.
The board has also approved a small tax cut worth about $36 on a $100,000 home or $24 on other property.
"Which is a good thing. That's about 7 million dollars back into the local economy," DeFeo says.
The Board of Education plans to hold a final reading and vote on the budget on June 13th. By law, they have until midnight June 30th to pass a final budget.
