Proposed budget would make Charleston Co. schools first in state on two decisions
CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCSC) - A long-awaited presentation of the 2024 to 2025 Charleston County School District’s budget was discussed among the Board of Trustees on Monday evening.
The first reading of the budget is officially not until May 20, but the board discussed and made recommendations for the first time on Monday night during three back-to-back meetings.
Two budget proposals would make the Charleston County School District the only district in the state to implement a new funding formula and lead teacher compensation in South Carolina.
Increasing teacher salaries by $7,500 would put the district in that number one spot for pay as well as funding step increases. Pay increases for all non-teachers and classified employees are also included in the budget, providing 100% of the market, which is an overall 6% increase.
The most notable expansion in the budget is the adoption of the Weighted Student Funding Model which would allocate funding from the district to individual student needs at each school. With a $32.8 million dollar price tag, the funding would fully offset the sunset of federal funds, otherwise known as ESSER.
“What we are trying to do is equally distribute resources based on student need, then principals can determine what key things they need to leverage improved outcomes,” Superintendent Anita Huggins said.
The model would allow resources to be allocated to help schools in the district with students in poverty, special education or multilingual. The need for a new funding model partially comes from the number of students in poverty attending non-Title 1 schools under the current funding model cannot address all students.
During Monday’s budget workshop, board members asked Huggins and Chief Financial Officer Daniel Prentice a number of questions surrounding the model. Their questions surrounded a graphic and numbers stating the total cost of the Weighted Student Funding Model would cost around $32 million.
But board members argue the numbers need to be updated since students can fall into more than one category that the current model does not reflect.
“This seems like almost intentionally misleading data being put out into the public which I very much object,” Board of Trustees Member Ed Kelley asked. “When this goes out to the public, I would like to see this slide with the actual numbers.”
“If you are able to put this in layman’s terms, that would be great,” Board of Trustees Member Leah Whatley asked. “That is an awfully high number compared to the number of students we have enrolled in CCSD.”
Huggins and Prentice assured the board that the correct numbers would be provided to clear any confusion.
“We are going to have to take a very close look over the next three to five years,” Huggins said. “Then, we will determine whether this allocation model works or do we need to go back to the drawing board.”
To balance the budget, one strategy used includes central office reductions with the district eliminating over 30 positions totaling to $8 million.
A 3.9 millage increase is included in the proposed budget with it noted that future millage increases are not contemplated in the long-range plan. A millage rate is a tax collected on real estate and large purchases, like cars.
However, families that own and live in their homes are exempt from the increased tax on their houses for education purposes. Non-owner-occupied houses and businesses bear the brunt of a millage rate increase.
The first reading after recommendations from Monday will be at the Board of Trustees meeting on May 20. Then, the second reading will include a public hearing and board meeting on June 24.
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