The Madison County School Board has begun its work on the annual budget. The draft budget is one that once again focuses on its employees with little to no extras and represents a continued decrease in student population.
For the past 19 years, the division has slowly lost students, from 1,921 enrolled during the 2007-2008 school year to just 1,500 enrolled in the current year. Currently, 135 seniors will graduate while only 98 students are enrolled in kindergarten. Because of the continued decline, the draft budget is based on 1,490 students which represents a decline in state funding.
However, while overall student enrollment continues to decline, students in both the English as a Second Language (ESL) and special education populations continue to increase. Currently, there are 46 students in the ESL population and 196 in the special education population with another 15 undergoing eligibility verifications. The budget recommendations include one additional ESL teacher and two additional special education teachers to handle the increased populations. The division also plans to increase its outside special education services by $59,000. These are purchased through the Piedmont Regional Education Partnership (PREP) and include occupational therapy, physical therapy, autism behavior consultation, assistive technology, parent resource center membership and vision.
“As enrollment continues to decline, we have seen increases in both ESL and [special education] numbers,” superintendent Anna Graham said. “The additional teachers would provide support to these students and their classroom teachers.”
The budget recommendations also include two additional aides for inclusion classes at Madison Primary School; one additional kindergarten through fifth grade teacher; one additional aide at Waverly Yowell Elementary School to provide student rotation and teacher common planning; an additional aide for implementation of a grant; and adding 10 days to the Waverly Yowell Elementary School counselor’s contract. Other recommendations include increasing instructional supplies by $5,000 per school, something Graham said hasn’t been increased in quite some time; $15,000 to cover when high school teachers are paid to teach a class during their planning period; a $20,000 increase for utility costs and $50,000 to meet ongoing technology needs.
For extracurricular activities, $5,000 is recommended as requested by the middle school band program to repair and maintain instruments and $11,785 is recommended to create an after school Mountaineer Theater program. The mini Mountaineer Theater program for younger students has been wildly successful with students performing a play each spring. Graham said the additional funding would allow the school division to offer kindergarten through fifth grade and sixth through 12th grade programs.
As in previous years, the budget recommendations also include a raise for all staff, this time 4%. The raise is part of the continued effort to keep the school division salaries competitive with surrounding localities.
As for local funding, the recommendation is to seek level funding from the board of supervisors.
Graham is expected to present her draft budget to the school board during its meeting Monday, Feb. 9 at 7 p.m. The meeting will also include a budget public hearing.
