DeKalb County School District officials presented scenarios for an operating budget of about $1.15 billion for the upcoming fiscal year, noting potential funding shortfalls related to the coronavirus pandemic.
The three budget scenarios being considered, given to school board members during the DeKalb County Board of Education’s monthly meeting, are about $50 million lower than requested last year. Options include up to 11 furlough days for staff, as well as strategic hiring freezes and delays for cost savings. State officials have told the district to anticipate funding cuts of about 11%, about $54 million for the district.
“When we started working on this budget, we knew that it was going to be a challenging year for us for next school year, being that COVID-19 hit,” Superintendent Ramona Tyson said during Monday’s meeting. “Out of all the things we have to do and all the decisions we have to make, what you’re being presented today is an effort to keep employees working and not contribute to the unemployment rate.”
Budget scenarios included eight, 10 or 11 staff furlough days. The district would save about $4 million for each day, recouping $3.5 million for each teacher furlough day and about $500,000 for a central office furlough day.
Emergency funding through the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act, through which the district was allocated about $34 million, will help with shortfalls, Interim Chief Financial Officer Masana Mailliard said.
Budget talks have alluded to potential shortfalls since schools closed in mid-March and governments issued sheltering orders across the country to curb the spread of the coronavirus. In May, district officials initially began working with a potential shortfall of about $76 million as the state discussed potential austerity cuts.
“Hopefully this is something that as legislators continue to work through the budget sessions, we will probably hope to get something a little bit more favorable,” Mailliard said. “It will be critical for us to monitor our revenue collections as we work through the budget for 2021.”
School districts also are facing additional costs associated with bringing students and teachers back to classrooms, including protective masks, hand sanitizer, materials to regularly disinfect buildings and the possibility of hiring extra teachers to deal with smaller classes amid social distance restrictions.
Typically, DeKalb officials would have presented its tentative budget to the school board by now, and scheduled public hearings to take place as the district worked toward finalizing its financial operating plan by the end of this month. Mailliard, the third person to lead the district’s finance division in the last six months, said the budget completion timeline has been impacted by the coronavirus, which pushed back the state’s budget process to June 30.
“Other districts are waiting for (the state) before making their decisions,” she said.
The budget would be for the year beginning July 1, though it is expected to be approved by the end of July. Tyson said the staff is preparing projections knowing the district is amid a leadership change. Thursday, the school board announced Cheryl Watson-Harris as its second superintendent finalist. She could be approved to replace Tyson, set to retire at the end of the month, as soon as next week.
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