Agenda - 04-25-2006-1 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Superintendent's Budget Message 2006 -2007 To the Members of the Board of Education: Each budget year presents a unique set of external factors that impact the school district's budget development. In prior years, the state's budget shortfall has been a major concern, with significant cutbacks proposed early in the process. This year, the state's revenue picture is brighter; however, it appears that decisions in Raleigh will once again have a significant impact on our local budget. Last fall the Governor announced his intent to propose a five percent salary increase to certified state personnel and a three percent increase to non - certified personnel, Additionally, the Governor granted a prorated $750 a year raise to certified staff in November 2005 which was covered by state funds for the current year for state and locally paid staff, but must be funded by the school districts for locally paid staff next year. These substantial raises are certainly necessary as teacher salaries have slipped well below tine national average in recent years; however, a significant amount of new local finding will be needed to find what amounts to a 7.5% salary increase for teachers. Proposed salary increases will require almost $2 million to fund. There are four other major areas of expense in our budget request: (1) costs associated with growth in projected student enrollment of 338 students; (2) increased costs to continue the current level of services; (3) costs associated with opening our third high school, Carrboro High School, in 2007 -08; and (4) costs associated with implementing a new high school schedule in 2006 -07. The specifics associated with these increases are provided later in the budget message All must be funded and their costs amount to approximately $4.1 million. Funding this budget request will require an increase in both the county per -pupil appropriation and the district tax rate. The additional $14 million in our local budget from special district tax revenue primarily fiords additional positions for our schools. If teacher salaries increase by 7 5% and the district tax rate remains the same, then this revenue source is impacted by only the .3% increase in the tax base The disparity between these two figures means that the county per -pupil increase must be relied upon to fund mandated salary increases for positions supported by the district tax. We need approximately a one -cent increase in tine district tax rate to compensate for the 7 5% salary increase for certified personnel Table 1 summarizes prior year funding trends for the operating budget since tine 2000- 01 budget year During this five -year period, county per -pupil funding has increased by 16.4% whereas the state increases have amounted to only 9.6 %. This averages out to approximately a 3% annual increase locally and a 2% annual increase from the state. Such increases do little more than keep pace with very modest salary increases at a time when more and more is expected of our schools.