Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Budget State Aid And Millage topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
District 55 budget workshop: state‑mandated teacher pay adds $898,152; board weighs millage options
Summary
At a District 55 budget workshop, Dr. Harris said a state‑mandated teacher pay increase will raise teacher costs by $898,152 and that preliminary state aid of about $24.7 million will largely cover teacher pay; trustees discussed rollback‑millage calculations and a possible 6‑mill example to cover other expenses.
Dr. Harris presented the school district’s preliminary general‑fund budget for 2026–27 and said salaries and fringe benefits make up about 83% of the spending plan. “These two items make up about 83% of our budget,” Dr. Harris said, adding that the state has mandated a teacher pay increase that will raise teacher costs by $898,152.
She told trustees the district is in a reassessment year and must perform a rollback‑millage calculation to avoid an unintended windfall from rising assessed values. Using preliminary assessed values, Dr. Harris said the example rollback would reduce the millage from 1.67 to about 1.52 mills to keep revenue roughly level.
On state funding, Dr. Harris said the state aid to the classroom figure has been adjusted to incorporate health insurance and that the district’s preliminary state aid number is roughly $24,697,000. “We are getting $24,000,000 for the state aid to classroom,” she said, adding that the line “will pretty much cover just our teacher salaries for the most part.” After combining several items, Dr. Harris said the net projected revenue increase is modest — roughly $46,000 in the preliminary figures presented.
Board members pressed on options for covering non‑teacher costs and discussed millage allowances. Dr. Harris explained permitted millage increases equal the consumer price index plus growth and noted the district’s equalization agreement requires alignment with the neighboring Laurens 56 district’s increases.
Trustees discussed an illustrative millage change. Dr. Harris gave an example that, under the assessment figures she had, a 6‑mill increase would have produced a substantial revenue change; she also reported the value of one mill from last year’s data as $81,006.32. Board members requested a budget scenario that shows the district’s finances without any millage increase and asked staff to obtain final reassessment numbers from the county before making a final recommendation.
The board did not take any formal budget votes at the workshop; members scheduled additional conversations for May and plan to consider budget approval in June.
