Clover School District outlines $2.7 million in new budget requests, flags parental-leave shortfall

District administrators presented detailed budget needs for the coming school year, asking the board to consider new staffing, program and operating requests tied to new schools, enrollment growth and unfunded state mandates.

New-school staffing and positions: Staff said Lake Wylie High, Liberty Hill Elementary and Roosevelt Middle are in the district—s build plan and will require new positions to open. The presentation listed replacement principals for the schools the principals will leave to staff the new campuses, an additional assistant principal to support the Lake Wylie principal during the opening and an athletic director and bookkeeper to be hired early for operational needs. Staff said those administrative positions and related hires are included in the district—s new-staffing requests.

School-by-school growth: Administrators walked through additional teacher and support positions by school to accommodate fast-growing zones, including two early-growth teachers at Bethel, FTE transfers to Crowder—s Creek, a full-time nurse for Oak Ridge Elementary to serve high medical needs, added teachers at Clover Middle and Oak Ridge Middle to balance teams for the Roosevelt split, and elective and CTE (career-technical) staffing adjustments at the Applied Technology Center. Staff described plans to shift some electives and teachers to new schools as enrollment and grade configurations change next year.

Special education and virtual programs: The district requested two teacher assistants for an existing multi-categorical classroom and a lead compliance specialist position formerly paid from federal funds; administrators said retaining that specialist is important to manage inclusion services and IEP compliance after the federal funds expire. Staff also described plans to separate middle- and high-school assignments for Clover Virtual Academy and Impact Academy teachers to improve scheduling and recruitment.

Costing methodology and totals: Administrators explained their cost assumptions: they base a projected teacher cost on a mid-point master-scale salary plus 30–32% fringe and full-family health insurance, which they roll to an approximate effective cost of $100,000 per teacher for planning. Using that formula, staff said 11.5 FTEs would cost about $1,150,000; five administrative FTEs about $586,000; a bookkeeper and a nurse $75,000; and other salary lines including CTE positions and bus drivers bring the district—s new-funds ask to roughly $2,705,000.

Paid parental leave and substitute-budget shortfall: Administrators reported the district has paid about $600,000 through March for state-mandated paid parental leave that the General Assembly previously authorized at six weeks; the legislature recently expanded paid parental leave to 12 weeks but did not provide additional funding. Staff asked the board to increase the substitute budget by $500,000 to prepare for the expanded leave, noting that long-term substitute costs require certified teachers and are therefore expensive.

Other operating requests and contingencies: The presentation also asked for funding to continue the Leader in Me program at Clover Middle (previously state funded), curriculum work in math, increased contract costs for virtual-teacher providers for Clover Virtual Academy, temporary chiller and HVAC costs already presented by facilities staff, and marketing funds for new-school outreach. Staff said some earlier ESSER-funded positions have been moved to the general fund in prior budgets; the current request aims to hold positions that were previously grant-funded but now need local funding.

Next steps: Administrators said they will return revenue and offset estimates at the next meeting and adjust the requests based on board feedback. They emphasized nothing in the presentation was final and invited the board to provide direction before the formal budget adoption process.