County BOE passes $31.65M budget

Published 2:24 am Thursday, September 8, 2016

Among the additions to the Covington County Schools budget was an additional Pre-K program at SES.  Kendra Majors/Star-News

Among the additions to the Covington County Schools budget was an additional Pre-K program at SES.
Kendra Majors/Star-News

Covington County Schools will operate under a $31.65 million budget approved this week for the 2017 budget year.

Revenues are projected at just $29.93 million, but the additional money to be spent is coming from reserves to fund the Straughn Elementary School project.

• State allocations are $20.06 million;

• Federal allocations are $2.91 million;

• Local allocations are $6.78 million;

• Other allocations are $169,122.

Ressie Gray, chief financial officer, said they saw the following changes in state funding.

• An increase of $6,048 for school nurses, for a total of $158,515;

• A decrease of $277 for career tech operations and maintenance, for $16,459;

• $10,342 increase in funding for the Alabama Reading Initiative, for a total of $264,592;

• An additional $120,000 for OSR Pre-K grant, putting the total to $365,700 for Pre-K;

• An increase of $133,351 in transportation operations for a total of $1.84 million.

• The foundation program Educational Trust Fund portion of the budget saw an increase of $795,332, or a total of $16.13 million.

In expenditures, Gray said there was $544,421.50 designated for debt service.

The 2008 QZAB obligation note that was used for the Straughn 9th Grade wing will pay out in June 2017.

Other highlights include:

• An increase in state allocation for student materials to $405.45 per teacher.

• Funding is based on 3,126.70 students and the projected enrollment for this year is 3,133.

• There are 398 employees system wide, with only 4.54 units funded locally.

“My goal and Mr. Driver’s goal is to keep that below five,” Gray said.

Superintendent Shannon Driver said he thought the budget was the largest since fiscal year 2008.

“The biggest thing was the 4 percent raises,” he said. “And the state allocated a little more of other current expenses and transportation.”

 

Breakdown by school:

• Fleeta Junior High School: $1.48 million

• Florala High School: $1.99 million

• Pleasant Home School: $4.1 million

• Red Level High School: $2.5 million;

• Red Level Elementary School: $2.25 million;

• Straughn Elementary School: $5.38 million;

• Straughn Middle School: $2.26 million;

• Straughn High School: $3.33 million; and

• WS Harlan Elementary School: $2.29 million.