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Commissioners, schools discuss $1.6 million lease payoff and recurring teacher step costs
Summary
County staff proposed using $1.6 million in fund balance to pay off a Board of Education lease and discussed combined state draft aid that together would help fund teacher step increases; the school superintendent warned recurring costs remain a challenge.
County finance staff presented a proposal to use $1.6 million in fund balance to pay off a Board of Education lease during the May 4 budget work session. The allotment, combined with a draft unrestricted MSDE (state) allocation of about $1.2 million, would free roughly $2.3 million that staff and school officials said could be used to cover teacher step increases and other school needs.
Superintendent Scott told commissioners that the Board of Education asked for recurring funds to cover textbooks, library materials and other ongoing costs; he said the school system had not funded a textbook adoption since 2008 and that recurring costs for two steps for association employees would be about $4.2 million, with recurring staff and opening a new elementary school adding roughly $2 million more in recurring obligations. The superintendent said one-time funding can help now but urged the board to consider recurring commitments when negotiating with teacher associations.
Finance staff explained that paying off the lease (budget line referenced by the Board of Education) would “free up” the county’s unallocated amount and that when combined with the draft MSDE unrestricted funds it would provide funds to pay for the second step for teachers. Commissioners and the superintendent discussed trade-offs and agreed to continue negotiations; the superintendent said he would provide a list of longer-term one-time and recurring costs to support future decisions.
No formal appropriation to move the $1.6 million out of fund balance was recorded as an adopted action during this session; commissioners asked staff to include the item in the balanced budget packet to be returned for formal action.
