Superintendent presents FY2027 tentative budget, warns of $10M fund-balance use and enrollment loss
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Summary
Superintendent Byron Jones told the Griffin-Spalding County Board of Education that the FY2027 tentative budget proposes roughly $192 million in appropriations, expects a 300–400 FTE student decline, and plans to use about $10 million of fund balance amid revenue uncertainty tied to state legislation and senior tax exemptions.
Byron Jones, the superintendent, presented the Griffin-Spalding County Board of Education's FY2027 tentative budget at a public hearing on April 14, saying it "totals approximately $192,000,000" and that the district expects to use roughly $10 million of its fund balance to cover a projected revenue–expenditure gap.
Jones said the budget is intentionally limited in new initiatives and is focused on maintaining services: "This budget has very little initiatives in it. It's really about, I'll say, surviving the revenues that we're gonna get from either the county or the state and trying to do better with what we've got." He told board members and the public the board had been given a 100–150 page budget book with detailed assumptions and line-item information.
Why it matters: Jones warned that enrollment declines will reduce state QBE (Quality Basic Education) funding next year. He reported the district's FTE count is expected to fall from about 8,961 to about 8,581—"around about 300 to 400 student loss"—which will reduce state allotments and increase pressure on local finances. Jones said FY27 revenues are currently proposed at about $117,000,000 with expenditures near $127,000,000, producing a planned fund-balance draw of roughly $10,000,000; the district's most recent audit reported a fund balance of $42,300,000.
Key revenue uncertainties: Jones identified three variables that could change the FY27 outlook: (1) the final QBE allotment, including hold-harmless adjustments; (2) pending state legislation (House Resolution 1114, House Bills 1116 and 581, and Senate Bill 33) that could limit property-tax growth; and (3) senior property-tax exemption applications, which he said numbered 3,167 as of April 1. On legislation, Jones said Senate Bill 33—on the governor's desk—would cap digest growth at the higher of 3% or the consumer-price index, and the governor has 40 days from April 2 to sign or veto.
Compensation and benefit pressures: The tentative budget includes step increases for eligible certified and classified employees and accounts for changes in the employer health-insurance match and teacher retirement rates. Jones quantified some of those impacts: roughly $400,000 on certified health-insurance match, about $225,000 on classified health-insurance match, and about $300,000 from the teacher retirement-rate increase to 22.32 percent.
Special revenues, nutrition and capital: Jones estimated special-revenue grants at approximately $13.3 million and nutrition program revenue near $10 million (continuing the Community Eligibility Provision). He said debt-service and related principal payments will bring debt-service costs toward $13 million annually, largely covered by SPLOST receipts; capital projects listed could total about $28.6 million if fully pursued, with average SPLOST inflows of roughly $1.3 million per month.
Board questions and follow-ups: Board members pressed for clarifications. Board member Holmes asked about the HB581 exemption counts and appeal window; Jones cited 3,167 applications and said he would follow up with firm appeal-window dates. Board member Register asked whether the district was reapplying for the hospital authority grant; Dr. Ridley said nurse English has applied and it "looks promising" this year. Jones also said staffing adjustments tied to enrollment drops are formula-driven and estimated approximately 16 positions affected districtwide (about one per school on average). He said roughly four additional special-education teachers (plus paraprofessionals) are included for growing special-education needs and that he would confirm exact counts in the budget book.
Public access and next steps: Jones walked the board through where to find the FY2027 tentative budget on the district website and agreed to consider a more direct link or pop-up to improve public access. He reminded the board that a second public hearing will be held at 5:30 p.m. on April 28, when the board will be asked to tentatively adopt the budget; final approval is targeted for May 26.
Closing procedural action: Board member Brandt moved to close the public hearing; the motion was seconded by the chair and approved by voice/raised-hand vote (tallied as five in favor, zero opposed).
The hearing concluded with direction to post updated materials online and to return to the board for tentative adoption at the April 28 meeting and final approval on May 26.
