Board Approves FY 18 General Fund Budget

Earlier tonight, in a meeting at the J. Floyd Hall Administrative Center, the Greenville County Schools Board of Trustees voted to approve the administration’s proposed FY 18 General Fund Budget. The administration’s recommended budget is based on the Senate version of the budget; the State budget should be finalized later this week.  Based on these preliminary numbers, projected revenue for next year is $596,618,000.  Points of interest:

• The proposed budget is balanced, as required by Board Policy.
• School funding is set up to be a shared responsibility.  Because of our Index of Taxpaying Ability Greenville County taxpayers are expected to provide approximately 30% of school funding. The proposed budget is 34.5% local, 65% state and .5% Transfer-In.
• There used to be an automatic annual change in local millage to meet “maintenance of local effort.”  Since Act 388, the State uses population growth and the Consumer Price Index to provide an allowable millage change each year, but it requires a vote of the school board.  This year, that formula recommends a 3.9 mill increase in order to maintain the current educational program. The budget as approved includes a 2.3 mill increase.
• Act 388 allows boards to levy any unused millage going back three years.  Existing carryover millage in GCS totals 8.5, bringing to 12.4 the total mills the GCS Board of Trustees is allowed by law to levy this year.
• Considering the projected growth in student population for FY 18, the total projected budget equates to a cost of approximately $32 per day, per student, for the 245 days in which the District operates each year. 
• The state-mandated teacher step increase does not provide a raise to teachers at the top of the salary scale or to anyone not on the teacher salary scale.  The approved 3% across the board cost of living increase raises all non-teacher salary cells and supplements by 3% and provides a 3% increase to teachers at the top of the scale.  It also ensures that all teachers not at the top of the salary scale receive a salary step equal to at least 3%.  Without a salary increase, employees would see a reduction in salary, due to the State-mandated employee retirement contribution increase of .34% and an inflation rate of 2.2% from March 2016 to March 2017.
• In the FY 16 General Fund Budget, Greenville County Schools “caught up” all teachers on the salary step program, but throughout the District many non-teaching employees are several years behind on step increases; for example, there are those who would be on Step 11, but are on Step 6. This budget does not address those missing steps.
• State mandates in this budget total approximately $14.7 million.  General Fund State revenue is increasing by $7.1 million.

Projected Revenue – State Funding:  Based on the Senate version of the State Budget, the Base Student Cost (BSC) will increase from $2,350 in FY 17 to $2,435 in FY 18.  This is an increase of $85.  Any increase to school funding is appreciated, but FY 18 marks the 10^th consecutive year the BSC has been funded below the FY 08 level. Because of our District’s Index of Taxpaying Ability (ITA), if the budgeted BSC remains at $2,350, we will receive a BSC of $1,768. Based on the EFA Formula approved as part of the Education Finance Act, the BSC should be $2,984. The FY 18 General Fund Budget projects state revenue totaling $372,999,000.

Projected Revenue – Local Funding: Current local tax millage for the General Fund is 137.4.  Per Act 388, no taxes are collected on owner-occupied homes to support the General Fund budget, but additional millage can be levied on other property (businesses, rental property, cars, motorcycles, etc.) using a formula built to meet inflation and population growth.  Of the 12.4 mills available to the Board this year, 1.3 mills are left over from FY 15 and will lapse if not levied this year. The approved FY 18 General Fund Budget projects local revenue of $205,830,000, including a 2.3 mill increase.

State mandates are: 1) Legal requirements resulting from legislative acts that impose an enforceable duty, a new program, or demand an increased level of service in an existing program, 2) Mandates from the State Department of Education, or 3) State-required increases to existing locally approved programs.

Expenditures: The following expenditure items are included in the FY 18 General Fund Budget.  Of this total, about $14.7 million is due to required State-mandated items.