Sumter trustees present FY2027 budget gap, approve pay bump for building-service workers and facility study

The Sumter School District board on June 8 reviewed a FY2027 budget that projects a roughly $6.6 million shortfall and approved several actions to address the gap.

In a budget presentation, Chief Financial Officer Miss Spearman said the district expects a roughly 3% enrollment decline and that projected revenue increases of about $1.8 million fall short of an estimated $8.46 million increase in expenditures. "We are requesting that fund balance fill that gap," Miss Spearman said, summarizing the administration’s recommendation for FY2027. The presentation listed the FY2026 base budget as $168,533,809 and the proposed FY2027 total as $176,995,249.

Board members pressed staff for details about how the district would sustain positions after enrollment declines. Miss Spearman said the net reduction in budgeted positions presented earlier in committee translated to a net reduction of roughly 30 positions in the proposed budget and that unspent budgeted salary dollars become savings that strengthen the fund balance.

The board approved a package of actions tied to the budget and operations. By unanimous vote the trustees approved scenario three of four pay options to increase building-service workers’ pay by three grades, an action Miss Spearman said has an estimated fiscal effect of $1,116,258. The motion passed without recorded dissent.

Trustees also authorized administration to issue an RFP for a comprehensive district facility study to assess building condition, utilization and a prioritized multi-year capital plan. Administration framed the study as the planning step for future bond work and long-term facility prioritization. The board approved the facility-study motion unanimously.

Other items tied to the financial presentation included staff approvals: the board accepted monthly personnel reports (A and B) and awarded a paving contract for the Palais Springs parking-lot project to Campbell’s Paving (contract amount transcribed in the meeting at approximately $219,894.45), authorizing the requisite budget adjustments.

The administration flagged several budget pressures: security costs for event coverage, technology and licensing spikes driven by contract timing, and a Title I funding cut of $612,000 that the district said it managed without eliminating positions by trimming professional-development and non-staff expenditures. Miss Spearman told trustees that routing software for transportation will be paid by the state for one year and that the district will inherit the operating cost thereafter.

What happens next: the board completed first reading earlier in May and will present the budget to county council; second reading is scheduled for a called meeting on June 16, 2026 if the presentation requires no further changes.