Savannah-Chatham schools present preliminary $666 million budget; public raises ESOL transparency and transportation concerns

Paige Cooley, budget director for Savannah-Chatham County Public School System, presented the district’s preliminary budget at a public hearing on Wednesday, May 14, saying projected general-fund revenues total $665,400,000 and projected expenditures total $666,000,000 for the coming fiscal year.

The hearing matters because the district faces a narrow projected use of fund balance and several large, moving parts — an uncertain federal funding picture, a pending tax digest, and planned millage-rate hearings in June that will influence final revenue estimates.

Cooley outlined key drivers behind the proposed budget, saying “Our general fund projected revenue increase for this year is $45,900,000 and that is based on a 10% increase in the tax digest.” She told the hearing the local-share increase under that assumption would be $36,900,000 and that the state’s QBE allotment is preliminarily up $9,000,000; federal revenues remain “an unknown question mark” and were not increased in the projection. Cooley said the district’s…