Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Budget topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Paulding County School District presents FY26 tentative budget showing small revenue uptick, higher health‑benefit costs
Summary
Finance staff presented a FY26 tentative budget showing a modest revenue increase, a greater share of payroll in the spending plan, and $55.5 million in grants; board will hold public hearings and vote on the final budget in June.
Paulding County School District finance staff presented a tentative FY2026 budget on May 27 that projects a slight revenue increase but rising benefit costs and concentrated payroll spending.
Amber Thesma, director of financial planning and analysis, told the school board the district’s general fund revenue estimate rose by two‑tenths of 1% to $435,700,000 after a preliminary digest from the Board of Tax Assessors. She said the tentative budget shows a total general fund budget of $438,500,000 when $2.8 million in general‑fund grants are included.
Thesma said payroll and benefits account for 89% of the general fund and that the district is ending the year with about 1.5 months of unassigned fund balance. “Salaries and benefits make up 89% of our budget,” she said. She described material line changes, including increases related to health insurance and a $5 million decrease in equalization funding.
Abby Dye, who presented the grants portion, said the tentative budget includes 46 grants totaling $55,500,000. She said QBE categorical grants make up about 69% of that grant total and noted a state school security grant of roughly $1.6 million to fund personnel and security initiatives such as weapon‑detection systems and door access controls.
Board members pressed staff for details on grants that ended and potential federal cuts. Thesma said one research grant called “Charting My Path” ended and affected positions were moved to regular allotments where possible. Dye said the district will not know final federal allocations until July and that the district had heard of potential cuts to Title III (ESOL) and possibly Title II but had no dollar figure until federal allocations are released.
Thesma and Superintendent Steve Barnett emphasized that most personnel are school‑based. Barnett noted 95% of allotments support instruction, transportation, maintenance or school‑level support and said about 200 positions (roughly 5% of staff) comprise other central functions, which saw larger proportional reductions.
The board did not vote on the tentative budget; Thesma said the district will return to adopt a final budget at a June 10 work session. The district also scheduled three public hearings on the millage rate for June 10 (8 a.m. and 6 p.m.) and June 17 (8 a.m.).
Clarifying details included in the presentation: the district projects a 0.7% decrease in enrollment year‑over‑year (93 fewer students); instruction accounts for about 63% of allotments and an instruction per‑student allotment of $16.90; capital projects are projected at $65.8 million; school nutrition is budgeted at $29.2 million; and the district will pay about $15.9 million in bond debt in FY26.
The budget presentation included outreach items: a 15‑minute budget explainer video on the district website and printed budget flyers available at the district offices. Board members asked staff to notify them when federal allocations arrive in July so the board can assess any changes to grant funding.
