Berkeley County Schools staff presented a package of school‑level staffing adjustments and a district‑office restructuring that together are a central driver of the draft budget.

Staff said school staffing changes reflect enrollment and class‑size shifts and include adding 20.5 professional positions while reducing 26 service personnel; staff presented a net school staffing cost of about $279,566 (Speaker 3). The same presentation split out administrative restructuring: Speaker 3 described a reduction of nine district administrative positions, with a reported savings of about $989,763 as part of a larger $1,481,000 administrative change number.

Nut graf: The board heard staff argue the school changes aim to align staffing to state formula areas and to add personnel where projected class sizes require them; the administrative reductions are presented as a way to offset new school staffing costs.

Supporting details: staff noted the draft includes pre‑K aid changes and floating ECAT positions to cover absences; one staff member cautioned any reversal of child‑nutrition charging would require adding staff back. Speaker 6 summarized classroom policy risk: a bill in the legislature could require an ECAT for every K–3 classroom regardless of class size and would add roughly 23 ECATs countywide at about $1 million in annual cost if enacted.

Quotes and attribution: "We're looking at a net of 279,566. That is, adding 20.5 professional staff and reducing service personnel by 26," Speaker 3 said. Speaker 6 warned a proposed bill "would require us to add back 23 ECATs in the county, which is about a million dollars."

Implication: the board stressed it wants final staffing decisions tied to final state aid numbers and asked staff for itemized staffing lists and position classifications to guide transfers and hiring steps.

Ending: staff will return with a finalized staffing schedule and clear implementation steps if the board approves staffing changes in the adopted budget.