It will be the end of June before the Hall County School Board adopts a budget for the upcoming fiscal year, but discussions are already underway about funding for promised employee pay increases.
The state budget includes a 3-percent pay hike for teachers, but any money that comes from the state likely will have to be supplemented by the county to ensure Hall County school employees see that full increase in their paychecks. Superintendent Will Schofield said the school system will have to dip into its rainy day fund.
"Certainly you could conservatively say we'd used between three and six million dollars of reserve funds to make this happen, but you know, that's what rainy day funds are for," said Schofield following Monday night's work session.
The issue is tax revenue; the county digest fell below projected revenues last year and it is possible that could happen again. The county digest is an unknown until the last of April or the first of May.
No matter the amount that comes from the state or from county tax revenue, teachers and other school employees were promised pay increases when the economy turned around, and Schofield said the promise will be fulfilled.
"We went through some tough years there where we cut compensation rates, we cut the number of days that they worked and for the most part our people just did not complain," Schofield said.
"Starting with our governor and right down to this local Board of Education, the promise was made if and when the economy turned and things started to look up, we'll do all we can to put compensation rates back where they were - and this board's continued to do that. So, even though state revenues aren't working out for us quite the way that we'd hoped, just because of their interplay with the local digest, this board has created some reserve funds and they fully intend to use them."
The budget process actually starts next month, according to a calendar presented by Deputy Superintendent Lee Lovett. The first budget work session is scheduled for April 11. Final budget adoption is scheduled for June 27.
