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Pearl River County School District proposes balanced budget but warns of enrollment-driven gap
Summary
District staff said they raised the fund balance to about $5 million but face a projected $1.8 million revenue shortfall after a 262-student enrollment decline; teacher pay raises and a shift in state funding into the base create an estimated $750,000 cost pressure.
PRC SD, presenting for the Pearl River County School District, outlined the district’s proposed budget at a public hearing on June 23 and warned that falling enrollment and state funding changes will force difficult choices.
"Between F-124 the fund balance was 3.6 million. We raise it to five million," PRC SD said, reporting progress toward a desired reserve but adding that the board’s longer-term target should be closer to $7–8 million. The presenter said the district’s enrollment has slipped—"we dropped 262 ... 262 to be exact"—and that decline reduces state revenue under the Mississippi student funding formula by an estimated $1.8 million.
Why it matters: the Legislature’s recent teacher pay increase was not provided as a separate, one-off allocation in the way district staff expected, PRC SD said. Instead the pay increase was largely folded into base student funding. "If you take 262 in times that, by the base student calls, a 7200. I think it's about 1.8 million," PRC SD said, and later added that the total cost of the state-mandated raises is "approximately $750,000." That mismatch, staff said, will be covered in the short term by drawing on the reserves the board built in recent years.
Board members and staff framed the shortfall as a function of three linked factors: declining enrollment, a funding formula now based on enrollment rather than attendance, and the way the Legislature allocated the teacher raises. PRC SD said the district had expected the raises to be funded in a separate allocation, but because the state folded some increases into the base, the district will receive only about $100,000 more in state revenue while the pay increase costs roughly $750,000.
PRC SD also described operational savings and reductions the district has already taken, including cuts to clerical staff and some teaching units, and said capital spending goals (notably bus replacement and HVAC planning) remain urgent. The presenter noted technology replacement is on a phased timetable because the district’s technology reserve will not fully fund a systemwide refresh.
On next steps, PRC SD said the board will revisit the budget when the state provides clarifying allocations. "Once I get that allocation I'll be coming back," PRC SD said, adding that staff would present final adjustments to the board as soon as those amounts are confirmed.
The board did not adopt final budget figures at the hearing; members approved procedural motions to continue work on the budget and to reconvene for formal action after state allocations and clarification about the special education supplement are received.
