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Lee County Schools ask board for $175,036 after enrollment rise to meet state local-effort rules
Summary
A Lee County Schools official told the Board of Supervisors the district's average daily membership rose to 2,759.98 and that state calculations require an additional $175,036 in local funding so the district can retain state aid; board members pressed for project and salary-cost details.
A Lee County Schools official told the Board of Supervisors on June 18 that the district’s average daily membership (ADM) finished at 2,759.98, above the budgeted 2,710 figure, and that a state recalculation requires an additional $175,036 in local funding to meet the required local effort.
The official said the additional local appropriation is needed so the district can carry forward state education dollars rather than return them to the state. “We finished with an ADM of 2,759.98, which after we ran the calculation, which we received last Thursday, it requires an additional $175,036 for the local share,” the Lee County Schools official said. The speaker also noted carryover possibilities for some state tutoring funds and that the district received $1,800,000 this year for tutoring which can be carried forward to FY 2027.
Board members pressed the school representative for detail on how additional funds would be used. The official described a board-approved three percent salary rate change, the district’s need to maintain step increases for staff not on the pay scale, and facility priorities including roof projects at Thomas Walker and Rose Hill; the official said a roof proposal is being sought for multiple schools. The official estimated the district’s administration costs were “somewhere between $800,000 and $1,000,000” and gave a ballpark figure — “about $8,900,000” as a rough total impact of a three-percent increase — while acknowledging those were off-the-cuff numbers.
The school representative said some state funds may be carried over only if the locality meets the required local effort, otherwise the state money must be returned. The official told the board that the district had no formal appropriation for the next fiscal year until the county approves a budget. The board did not record a separate, final vote on the appropriation request in the public portion of the transcript; the district said the requested amount will be considered as part of the county’s upcoming budget approval process.
If the county approves the requested local appropriation during its budget process, the district indicated the money would be used to meet the state-required local effort and to preserve state funding that can be carried forward for programs such as tutoring and capital needs.
