The Madison County School Board has approved a fiscal year 2027 budget, but not before making changes.
Late last month, superintendent Anna Graham presented a draft budget to the Madison County Board of Supervisors that requested level local funding, while providing salary increases (3% for all employees with an additional 1% for all non-administrative positions), covering a 16.7% health insurance increase and adding eight positions. A previously agreed to rent amount from the Boys & Girls Club of Madison County was removed, reflecting an earlier request by the organization for increased local funding. The supervisors had little feedback on the budget.
Despite that, during Monday’s school board meeting, the board opted to reduce those eight positions down to four, keeping the two additional special education teaching positions to address the continued increase in that student population, along with one English as a Second Language (ESL) teacher and an aide at Waverly Yowell Elementary School. Removed were the two additional aides for inclusion classes at Madison Primary School, an additional kindergarten through fifth grade teacher and the aide for the RTR Teacher Residency Program grant. The funding for those four positions, $185,000, was instead moved to a new line item–a strategic initiative fund.
School board member Graham Davidson said the fund could be used for any number of things that would advance strategic goals and initiatives in the school system including expanding career and technical education and STEM options, improving literacy or addressing emerging needs.
“It’s a way to plan ahead,” he said.
School board member Sue Wood pointed out a flaw in the plan—the school board doesn’t maintain carryover. That money goes back to the board of supervisors.
“Developing a fund for a budget which would be a carryover with no guarantee it goes to our teachers or kids [and] to create a budget with a line item [without an agreement] is not doing a service to our students and our teachers,” Wood said.
She said without a formal agreement between the two boards regarding the fund, “it’s hard to say the board is supporting the staff because we have the ability to give them more and we’re not.”
Board member Mitch Dickey said he, too, couldn’t support eliminating the four positions. He said the positions represent prioritized needs among the division and he couldn’t support the creation of a fund without knowing what it would be used for while knowing teachers and administrators are stretched thin.
“I can’t in good faith do that,” Dickey said.
Davidson said he would hate to add eight new positions and have to cut them next year. He said the school board will need to advocate for the strategic fund with the supervisors.
Board member Lauran Gordon said adding eight positions not knowing what may be coming next year made her nervous. She said adding the positions was not being responsible. Dickey said it’s not being responsible to not give the school system what it needs. He said before he would ever support the initiative fund over four positions he would need to see an agreement in writing.
“I feel that everybody’s heart is where it needs to be, but I need to see [an agreement] first,” Dickey said.
The budget was approved 3-2 with Wood and Dickey dissenting. It’s possible the numbers will still change as the state finalizes its budget. Work on the county budget continues.
