The Baldwin County Board of Education gave first approval Tuesday to the FY25 budget. The budget comes in at more than $58 million in expenditures and revenues, up from $52 million in FY24. It’s also a budget Superintendent Dr. Noris Price and the board had anticipated for about two years now with the pending absence of pandemic-related federal funds.
It meant the elimination of positions. Increases were also brought on by actions from the governor, such as raises in salary.
Price and Baldwin schools financial director Samantha Jenkins presented the new tentative budget to the board, and Price stressed that education in Baldwin County is a collaboration with families and the community. It is also their goal, she said, that students graduate college- and career-ready in order to become contributing members of society with lifelong success.
That takes dollars. It’s these goals that are always in mind when preparing the budget, Price said. The process also showed her continued appreciation of the board towards the schools’ staffs.
“Our leaders have to justify their expenditures,” said Price. “Ultimately, our budget has to align to our strategic plan and reflect an investment in our students and employees.”
Sixty-eight percent of the budget is instructional, 10% non-school administration, 7% school administration, 6% transportation and 9% maintenance. All expenses come to $58.3 million. Eighty-five percent of that is personnel and 15% is operational.
“We have done our due diligence making sure we have looked at everything we could cut or reduce. We know moving forward there are additional cuts we are going to have to make. We are going to start that in the fall to make sure we are prepared for the FY26 budget.”
Two public hearings are scheduled on May 21 and June 3, both beginning at 5:30 p.m. Final approval of the FY25 budget will be voted on at the board of education meeting June 11. The public hearings will take place at the Early Learning Center located next to the district office.
From June to September, board of education meetings will take place at the Baldwin High School Fine Arts Auditorium due to renovations at the district office.
Jenkins addressed the fund balance, the district’s savings account, and that the budget has come in below or equal to actual revenues. That allows them to add to the fund balance.
“We’ve been able to have our budget almost right on where it’s equal or the budgeted revenue came in a little higher, and that has also allowed us to add to our fund balance,” she said.
The projection fund balance for FY24, which is not completed, is $32 million based on how revenues and expenses are coming in.
Getting into funding sources, the Baldwin school district gets state money, local tax dollars and “other.” State money, Jenkins said, is based on enrollment, and the projection for FY25 is $27.6 million, or 56%. Property taxes, TAVIT (vehicle tags), all that make up the local tax funds, is projected at $20.3 million or 41%. “Other” comes in at 3% for a total of $49.6 million, $2.8 million more than last year.
Jenkins said, in regards to property taxes, the district’s plan is to keep the millage rate at 14.58 unless different numbers come in. This would bring in $18.5 million alone.
“If the numbers come in differently in the rollback ... then the decision the board has to decide on is whether we take the rollback rate or keep this rate,” Price said. “If we keep the current rate and not the rollback rate, it means we would have to have public hearings because it would be considered a tax increase.”
“I received the first consolidation sheets from (the Baldwin County tax assessor), and with those numbers, they can change,” said Jenkins. “I should have the final run by July 15. But with this first run, it looks like we will be able to keep the millage rate at 14.58. There are two pieces of information I am missing they don’t have yet. They won’t have [them] until later in the month, maybe into June. With those numbers, it looks like our property tax will come in higher than $18.5. It looks like it will come in anywhere from $22.8 to $23.2 million.”
Positions in the school district are paid for either by state or local funds. The state will fund those positions a district like Baldwin County has earned based on enrollment; others are funded locally. Baldwin has 159 earned teaching positions and employs 161 teachers, but it also earned 10 clerical positions and employs 48. Price said that’s $2 million that has to come out of local funds. She said they also earned $604,000 from the state for transportation positions but actually spend $2.5 million there.
Price added they spend $3.4 million maintaining facilities, and a little over $1 million of that comes from the state.
“Anything we want above and beyond what the state provides has to come out of our general fund, which is funded by local tax dollars,” she said.
Price also mentioned ESSER (Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief) funds, the largest one-time federal investment in K-12 education to help with the COVID-19 pandemic. There were three rounds of this funding for Baldwin totaling $28 million, according to Price.
“That money had to be expended within three years. If not, you had to return that money to the federal government,” she said. “Which we are not doing. But that money is going away Sept. 30.”
One of the steps the superintendent said the district is taking in response to this shortfall, is not filling vacant positions as people retire or leave. System officials are determining if they still need those positions. The reduction in the FY25 budget is 90 positions, 33 of which were funded through ESSER.
“The other discussion we had is operational costs,” said Price. “Our budget is a lot larger for FY25 because everything has increased due to inflation and the supply chain issues.”
Jenkins mentioned Gov. Brian Kemp’s additions, the Teachers Retirement System employer contribution rate increase to 20.78% or $220,000, and health insurance for classified employees (which all comes from local funds) to $18,960 per participating member beginning in January and for certified employees to $21,120 (only earned positions funded by the state).
“The board has decided to look at a 3% salary increase for classified employees,” said Jenkins. “That cost would be $210,000 to the district.”
For after-school programs, Baldwin did not get a 21st Century grant. But for Lakeview Primary, Midway Hills Primary and Midway Hills Academy, the cost for maintaining the programs is estimated at $350,000. It will also cost $100,000 to maintain the new Literacy Academy that began in the spring for those reading below grade level.
“Nobody has lost their job,” said Price. “People who were funded by CARES were offered positions that were matched with their qualifications.”
