Putnam Co. School Budget Has $4 Million Gap

The Putnam County Board of Education approved the first draft of the school system’s proposed budget Thursday night.

It came in with a $4 million dollar gap between projected expenditures and revenue. Director of Schools Jerry Boyd presented the budget, which had revenue projected at $87.9 million and expenditures at $91.8 million.

Last year, the first draft of the school system’s budget had a $4.5 million gap. The county will now be asked to increase its allocation to the school system to help fill this year’s gap.

“We have choices if they do not approve draft one as we have submitted it,” Fry said. “We can make it up out of our fund balance or we can make cuts, which is always so very difficult for us.”

Fry said filling the gap with the fund balance would not be possible.

“There is a gap because we have no mechanism for growth,” Boyd said. “We are going to continue to put forth our needs and align our resources to our strategic plan with our goals.”

“The additional money, we are going to have to come back to the county commission because we have no mechanism to address growth, He said”

The bulk of the expenses come from salary and benefit increases for teachers, which makes up the biggest portion of the budget.

Boyd has proposed a 3-percent salary/wage improvement increase for all certified and non-certified employees. That proposal comes in at $1,754,973.

“The things that cause the most dramatic increases to our expenses are always tied to our personnel,” Boyd said. ”

The budget also calls for several increases for key school level improvements, including, $100,000 for classroom instructional funds, $126,000 for three English Language Learner teachers, $625,000 for 10 additional classroom teachers for growth and ratios, and $293,700 for five elementary Art/STEM teachers.

Fry called it a good budget that reflects the growth that the school system is experiencing.

“Mr. Boyd does an excellent job of projecting into the future so we can see how we need to grow so we can become better at what we do,” She said.

A date for the county budget committee to review the school system budget has not been announced.