Anson County Schools seeks county help to cover SRO costs, requests 5% funding boost and roof repair match

Miss Drake, presenter for Anson County Schools, told the board at a budget-development workshop that about 73% of the district’s operating budget goes to salaries and benefits and that the district faces growing pressure from rising personnel costs and limited capital funding.

The presentation outlined the FY27 planning process and deadlines; Miss Drake said the local budget will be approved at the board’s next regular meeting and must be submitted to county commissioners by May 15. She summarized revenue by fund (state, local, child nutrition, capital outlay, federal, special revenue) and said state funding is mostly directed to positions while many local-facing roles (teacher assistants, bus drivers, custodians) are paid from dollar allotments that typically do not increase with state salary adjustments.

Miss Drake told the board the district was invoiced roughly $387,000–$387,832 this school year for school resource officers (SROs) and asked the county to consider assuming that cost. "If the county would pick up that SRO contract, that would help alleviate that," Miss Drake said, noting the district has used at-risk allotments to cover SRO costs and that a prior two-year grant for SROs provided only $88,000.

She cautioned that one-time grants can create sustainability problems: if a three-year grant pays for additional SROs, the district must identify ongoing funding afterward or the positions may be lost. Miss Drake described the county pickup as a request to create a more stable funding stream for school safety rather than a firm commitment.

On local funding, Miss Drake said the district receives a $3.8 million county appropriation plus a sales-tax supplement and an annual $500,000 capital outlay appropriation. She asked the county for a 5% increase in its appropriation to help offset higher insurance, retirement and benefit costs. "We've not received a county increase in several years," she said.

Capital needs were a central concern. Miss Drake said administrators prioritized capital requests by urgency and identified a new roof for Lville (referred to in slides as Ly'sville/Lville) as a top imperative, with an estimated price tag near $3 million. She proposed using about $1.5 million from the district’s lottery repairs and renovations fund plus a county match to cover the cost, while cautioning the lottery fund is restricted to repairs and renovations and should not be depleted entirely.

Enrollment trends drew brief discussion: the state’s planning projection shows a positive enrollment change for the coming year—the district’s first projected increase in at least six years—which will affect state planning allotments. Miss Drake also noted that charter-school students (97 students in 24–25) are included when calculating county per-pupil support; the district paid $133,641 to charter schools last year and pays monthly after verifying student rosters.

Board members pressed Miss Drake on budget risks. She said the district used about $490,000 of fund balance this year to balance the local budget and warned that if revenues remain flat the district will have to either cut staff or reduce spending. "There's only two ways to adjust: cut staff or cut spending," she said, adding that she aims to maintain roughly an 8% fund balance as a prudent target.

No formal budget actions were taken at the workshop. The board had no action items and adjourned after a motion by Mr. Laws and a second; the motion carried by voice vote.

What's next: the board is scheduled to take up approval of the local budget at its next regular meeting and then submit the local request to county commissioners by the May 15 deadline.