Charleston school budget workshop advances FY27 draft emphasizing literacy, WSF and CTE reclassification

District staff on April 13 presented a proposed FY27 budget that they asked trustees to recommend for first reading at the April 27 board meeting, with a focus on expanded literacy funding and weighted student funding (WSF).

Mister Prentice, the district’s financial officer, told trustees the proposed general operating fund totals $965,000,000 and that transfers out — largely to the district’s weighted student funding program — increase by about $31,000,000. “So we are recommending a balanced budget for FY27, $965,000,000 general operating fund,” Prentice said. He emphasized the workshop was for questions and answers only: “Not today. No action out of this workshop,” he told the board.

Prentice said the FY27 package includes a $1.5 million expanded investment in literacy and that WSF — including literacy enhancement and standard reallocations — will total about $63,400,000. He described the transfer increase as a mechanism to get resources to schools: some dollars will flow to salaries and benefits at schools, and others to purchase services or non-salary strategies as schools deploy their WSF plans.

The presentation also described a change in how career and technical education (CTE) funding will be handled at the state level. Under the governor’s adopted budget, CTE weighting in the state aid formula is reduced from 1.2 to 1.0; Prentice said that shifts Charleston’s annual CTE allocation to an estimated $6,500,000 and requires creation of a CTE special revenue fund to track and restrict those dollars. Staff said roughly 19 FTEs and about $2.5 million in positions will be reclassified from the general operating fund into the CTE fund to align expenditures with the new revenue stream.

Trustees asked for detail on compensation and staffing. The staff proposal calls for a $2,718 increase for certified employees and a 3% increase for classified staff, changes staff said will move many starting salaries into a new banded rate. Prentice said special education receives a $3.2 million investment tied to 39 new FTEs (26 teacher assistants, 9 teachers and 4 registered behavior technicians), and staff flagged Peninsula Promise and Thrive program costs that net to just over $3 million after internal reallocations and savings from school consolidations.

The presentation noted a $2.4 million increase in general state aid to classrooms modeled into the FY27 forecast and cautioned about other statewide changes. Prentice highlighted recently enacted legislation that phases down boat assessment ratios from 10.5% to 6%, a change he said will reduce local revenue by roughly $3.5 million spread over three years and that the district has modeled conservatively in its long-range forecast.

Prentice said the audit and finance committee recommended the FY27 proposal to the board for first reading on April 27. He also previewed a May 11 workshop where the district will present ROI scorecards for school strategies and said a public hearing and second reading are scheduled for May 18.

The workshop did not include a vote on the budget; trustees engaged staff on a range of technical and program questions and asked staff to return with clarifications at subsequent meetings. The board’s next steps are first reading on April 27 and a May review of ROI results tied to WSF.