Charter schools complicating budget process for Bibb BOE

As the Bibb County school district prepares its budget for the 2016-17 school year, the status of a pair of charter schools is complicating the process.

The school board held its third budget work session Tuesday, with projected expenditures of a little more than $192 million and an ending fund balance of $12.3 million. Neither of those figures changed much from the last budget update in April.

“The numbers are pretty much the same,” said Ron Collier, the district’s chief financial officer.

That leaves the fund balance projection a little more than $3 million short of the 8 percent of total expenditures that board rules require. Collier said some relief on that front could be coming, as the district is currently operating ahead of estimates regarding the current fund balance. If that holds true, the district could match or exceed the $20.6 million that it began the 2015-16 school year with, which would be $2.3 million more than the current projected starting balance of roughly $18.3 million.

“If you were to judge it based on where we are now, that’s where we could be,” Collier said.

The numbers also could change some if Macon Charter Academy isn’t open in the fall. Indications surrounding a filing in bankruptcy court last week were that the school’s leaders had no plans for MCA to open for the 2016-17 school year, but the district is still budgeting for the school to be in operation.

If it isn’t, about $3.3 million could come back into the district’s conventional schools with the returning students, but the transition also could require between 20 and 25 additional teachers. That would be an estimated cost of $1.7 million, eating into the added revenue of additional students.

“So on one hand, you may save money, but you would still have to account for that,” Collier said.

The district also will await the impact of Cirrus Academy, a state-funded charter school set to open in August. The school expects to open with 619 students, but it is allowed a statewide enrollment. That means district leaders are uncertain now how many of those students will be leaving Bibb County schools and taking their state funding with them.

“We will have a pretty good feel about what that number will be, pretty much when they tell us what they have,” said Superintendent Curtis Jones, adding that it could be August before that final number is known.

On top of those considerations, the board is considering pay raises for various employees. The current proposal factors in an increase for bus drivers to get their starting salary close to $17 per hour, which would be more competitive with surrounding districts.

Additionally, board members are looking for ways to give all employees, or at least certified teachers, the 3-percent pay raise announced by Gov. Nathan Deal this year. The funding for those increases came in the form of reductions in austerity cuts, which didn’t get districts back to the amount prescribed by the state’s Quality Basic Education formula.

“Clearly, he has not given us the money to do that,” said Lester Miller, the board’s president.

Miller and other board members recognized that Houston County’s board approved a 3-percent increase earlier Tuesday, but Collier pointed out financial advantages available to that district. For one, he said Houston County was “grandfathered in” for a 1-percent sales tax for operations, which includes payroll, in addition to the ESPLOST that other districts have in place for capital projects.

“Not very many counties in the state of Georgia have the ability to do that,” Collier said.

As a result, Bibb County’s board members are left to find ways to make room for a one-time bonus. Collier estimated a 1-percent bonus would cost the district an additional $1.5 million, meaning the full 3 percent would cost about $4.5 million.

“I’m in favor of giving the bonus this year and doing everything we have to do to get there,” Miller said.

Board members also noted that it would be difficult to continue that pay increase without raising the millage rate in future years. One mill would bring in about $4 million, and Collier acknowledged that sustaining any raises with current revenue levels wouldn’t be likely.

“Based on my projections, it doesn’t appear to me that we can,” he said.

The board tentatively is scheduled to review the budget again May 31, with its next regular meeting scheduled for June 16.

This story was originally published May 10, 2016 at 8:26 PM with the headline "Charter schools complicating budget process for Bibb BOE."