Here are key numbers in Muscogee County School District’s budget

Most of the discussion about the Muscogee County School District’s $274,600,024 budget for fiscal year 2017 has focused on how much money is available for teacher raises.

After nearly two months of debate, the Muscogee County School Board approved superintendent David Lewis’ spending plan in a 7-2 vote at the June 27 called meeting.

John Thomas of District 2 and Frank Myers of District 8, who voted no, contend the 2 percent raise MCSD is giving teachers should be the 3 percent Gov. Nathan Deal promised in January and other districts have given. The MCSD administration contends the state’s complicated funding formula resulted in enough state revenue for only approximately 1 percent raises, so local revenue was added to double the amount and give the first significant increase in the district’s local pay supplement since at least the early 1990s, Lewis said.

Regardless of the argument, the budget for the fiscal year that started July 1 includes plenty more interesting numbers. So here are 10 additional key numbers you should know:

More than 85 percent

That’s the percentage of district employees who will receive some sort of salary increase, MCSD human resources chief Kathy Tessin told the Ledger-Enquirer, comprising all staff except those with less than one year of experience.

$36,979

That’s the new MCSD entry-level teacher salary with the 2 percent raise ($668). It’s the highest in the survey of West Central Georgia region districts Tessin presented the board. Houston County was next at $36,209, Harris County at $35,597, Troup County at $34,742, and Meriwether County at $34,723.

23.37 mills

It’s the 20^th straight year the board has kept the millage rate at 23.37.

Since 2000, a Georgia law requires a taxing authority to publish a “Notice of Property Tax Increase” even if the millage rate remains the same. That’s because the governing body, such as the school board, benefits from an increase in the tax digest, based on new or improved property, which is projected to be 1.5 percent in Muscogee County this year.

State law requires the board to roll back its millage rate an equivalent amount, which would be 0.053 mills. That would have meant a tax break of $1.93 on a home with a fair market value of $125,000 and a reduction of $3.71 for non-homestead property with a fair market value of $175,000.

The only way keeping the millage rate at 23.37 is an actual tax increase on a property owner is if the owner improves that property.

The board’s vote on adopting the millage rate also was 7-2. Myers and Thomas favored the rollback.

“We have the third-highest millage rate in the state of Georgia,” Myers noted.

Muscogee County also has a tax assessment freeze on homestead property at the time of purchase. Columbus voters will decide in a Nov. 8 referendum whether to thaw the freeze.

$7,619,053

The administration plans to use $7,619,053 of its fund balance. That would reduce the fund balance from the projected fiscal FY 2016 figure of $51,993,572 (equal to 55.8 days of operations) to $44,374,519 (equal to 45.7 days of operations).

$5.9 million

That’s the budget’s increase in dollars (2.2 percent) compared to FY 2016. It includes increasing the expenditure for salaries and benefits from $227,284,822 to $232,108,895 (86.71 percent of total expenditures) and for operations from $34,595,508 to $35,560,847 (13.29 percent of total expenditures).

57

That’s the number of additional school-level positions funded in this budget, including 46 teachers, seven paraprofessionals (aides) and four Emotional Behavior Disorder technicians.

3.5

That’s the number of additional district-level positions funded in this budget, including:

▪  One specialist to support the increasing demands of state-required online testing and the expansion of technology in the district.

▪  One specialist to support K-12 music programming.

▪  One administrative assistant in Student Services to answer increased Open Records and Due Process requests.

▪  One part-time occupational therapist to meet special-education requirements.

63.7 percent

That’s the percentage of the budget spent on instruction ($174,983,265), meaning the teaching of children. Although it’s an increase in dollars compared to FY 2016 (from $170,226,157), it’s a decrease in portion (from 65 percent).

30,785

That’s the district’s official enrollment, according to the K-12 count taken in October 2015. It’s a decrease of 1.1 percent (342 students) after increasing by 0.57 percent (175 students) the previous year. In the past 10 years (since October 2005), MCSD’s K-12 enrollment has dropped from 32,490 to 30,785, a decrease of 5.2 percent (1,705 students).

Prekindergarten isn’t included in these figures because the state’s funding formula uses only the K-12 enrollment.

$189,707,707

The state never has fully funded its Quality Basic Education formula since it was enacted in 1985, but the MCSD administration still tracks the amount of austerity reductions compared to what the formula says it earns in state revenue. Since FY 2003, the district’s cumulative austerity reductions amount to $189,707,707, including $3,010,828 for FY 2017.

This story was originally published July 6, 2016 at 7:15 PM with the headline "Here are key numbers in Muscogee County School District’s budget."