The Newton County School District Board held their public hearing for the fiscal year 2024-2025 on the last Friday morning before the school year begins. During the brief meeting, the board was presented with a budget of just over $23.41 million. The district will also request the county for a 1.9 mill increase to reach the maximum local level of 55 mills, which the district will use to help fund the purchase of two new school buses, as well as cover an increase of local funds that the district must contribute to receive its level of state funding.
NCSD Director of Finances Cay Clark said that the district is requesting the increase of 1.9 mills, amounting to an estimated $120,000, from the county because the district had the need to purchase two new school buses at a total cost of $249,000. She added that that the district’s ‘required local contribution’ amount also increased this year after the state legislature changed the state’s funding formula, which the millage increase would help cover.
“Along with the state funding that we receive, there is a segment of the funding that’s called 'Required Local Contribution', which the district has to generate locally just to receive our level of funding from the state,” said Clark. “After the legislature changed the formula, our Required Local Contribution went up $29,000, increasing our total to $1,797,812.”
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If granted, the 1.9 mill increase will put the Newton County School District at the maximum level of 55 mills, matching the millage rate of the two other school districts in the county, Union and Newton.
Of the $23,410,836.81 spending budget for the upcoming school year, $11,440,204 of it will go towards Instruction (Teachers, Assistants, Supplies, Textbooks), $6,968,990 to Support Services (Electricity, Running the School Buses, Bathroom Supplies, Water, Insurance, School Nurses, Speech Pathologists, Counselors, Administrators), $2,886,102 to Facilities Acquisition & Construction (CTE Building), $1,728,817 to Non-Instructional Services (Cafeteria), $348,424 to Debt Service (payment of 3 mill note and lease purchase on a school busses in 2022), and $38,300 to Sixteenth Section (management of land).
Note: The $2,886,102 (12%) expenditure toward the CTE Building is entirely made up of funds received from an allocation of funds from the state legislature and ESSER funds. No local funds are used.
The district’s estimated revenue for the fiscal year of 2024-2025 is $22,143,475.79. A majority of the revenue, $14,089,076, is up of State Sources (state funding), $4,540.542 from Local Sources (taxes, gate revenue, fundraisers, etc.), $3,415,893 from Federal Sources (grants), and $97,965 from Sixteenth Section Sources (Sell of timber, etc.).
The school district by law has a one-week comment period when residents can contact the school districts with comments about the budget. The NCSD School Board will meet next on Aug. 12 at the high school library, where they will hold a vote to adopt the annual budget.
