NEWTON COUNTY – With the school year nearing the end, members of the Newton County Board of Education are beginning to shift their focus to the FY25 budget.

Tuesday’s meeting saw the first public steps being taken to establish next year’s budget with presentations of organizational priorities from superintendent Dr. Duke Bradley III and the FY25 budget overview from chief financial officer, Erica Robinson.

Preliminary budget anticipates increase in revenue

An increase is expected in the FY25 budget, as the current projected number is $239,706,299. This number is a $18.5 million increase from the FY24 amended budget.

Making up 58 percent of the FY25 numbers is state funding that is projected to increase by $9.9 million. Here’s how it is tentatively made up.

• Funding for $2,500 certified salary scale increase ($3.4 million)
• Funding for SHBP increase for certified positions ($2.8 million)
• Funding for FTE growth, training/experience earnings and TRS employer contribution increase ($4 million)
• Funding increase for transportation ($2 million)
• Increase in equalization ($229,000)

The board, however, will see a $2.6 million decrease in funding due to an increase in local five mil share contribution.

When looking at local funding, the projected revenue is $8.5 million due to estimated growth in local property digest and interest earnings. Robinson was quick to note to The Covington News that the number is “truly an estimate.”

A total of $10.6 million was allocated for investments driven by state legislation which include:

• $2,500 salary increase for all certified staff; salary and benefits ($4.5 million)
• Increased cost for employer health insurance premium for certified and classified staff ($3.7 million)
• Increased cost for employer TRS contributions ($2.4 million)

Around $7.8 million was allocated to investments that aligned with board member priorities. 

• A 3.5 percent salary increase for classified staff; salary and benefits ($1.2 million)
• Honor step in salary schedules ($2.6 million)
• Continuation of 17 MTSS specialist positions that were previously funded with ESSER ($2 million)
• Additional funds for resources services, personnel and district operational costs ($2 million)

“In summary, these strategic investments driven by state legislative mandates and board member priorities reflect our commitment to fostering a supportive and thriving educational environment for all students and staff of our school community,” Robinson said.

Organizational Priorities 

Bradley began the discussion by listing the school system’s organizational priorities, which were aligned with his 90-day report findings in academics, operations and culture and engagement.

In the area of academics, the first listed priority dealt with developing a clear and comprehensive literacy strategy as a focal area. 

This was highlighted as a districtwide weakness in Bradley’s aforementioned 90-day report. 

Literacy rates across the district were lower than the state’s average, with literacy rates particularly low in grades 3, 5 and 8.

When it comes to the 2024-25 school year, Bradley said that this year’s goal will be administering a pilot program for select schools for the science of reading as well as a greater focus on instructional delivery. 

This comes after Bradley and his team made visits to schools such as Marietta City Schools and Fulton County Schools to observe ways those districts are making a push in improving literacy.

“We know that it will likely take several months to design our plan, to purchase requisite resources and to train our staff,” Bradley said.

Despite this, Bradley mentioned that the effort to improve literacy districtwide will remain a collaborative one. 

“None of this work will happen in isolation or without deep and meaningful engagement with our teachers and other instructional support personnel,” Bradley said.

Another academic priority listed by Bradley was strengthening the district’s educational core by clarifying common expectations for curriculum across the district.

In Bradley’s findings, he cites “varied academic experiences” as reasoning behind the listing as an organizational priority. Differences in content exposure, depth of material and quality/expectation of instruction were listed as key points within those varied experiences.

“We operate a system of schools and the extent to which we can systemize excellence hinges on our ability that every child, in every classroom, in every school receives rigorous standards-based instruction every day,” Bradley said.

An organizational restructure was also proposed in the priority list, which were specifically aimed at teacher and instructional support development. These include new additional positions and renaming/reallocating other positions.

The three new positions that are set to be added are assistant superintendent of teaching and learning, executive director of teaching and learning and a third executive director of school leadership position.

Bradley was sure to clarify that the new assistant superintendent of teaching of learning is not the district’s second in command, but rather overseeing all aspects of teaching and learning.

The two curriculum coordinator positions will be merged into the new budget-neutral — meaning that it would be at no cost to the system — executive director of teaching and learning while the director of elementary education and director of secondary education positions will be restructured to be phased out.

“These organizational shifts are intended to better position the district to achieve the academic specifical organizational priorities which have been previously discussed,” Bradley said.

Also listed as academic considerations for the district is increased participation access in advanced placement, gifted, STEM and dual-enrollment courses, something that Bradley said he expects to provide updates on as the year progresses.

Bradley spent less time going over the operations and culture and engagement portions of the priorities due to time constraints, but did emphasize a few key points within both of those areas.

Under operational priorities, Bradley highlighted developing programming at removing barriers for student learning. This was also a key point in his 90-day report.

The circled point for culture and engagement priorities was increasing the opportunities for formal employee recognition.

“We will focus on taking more action to implement practices and programming that better engage, support and celebrate our staff members,” Bradley said. “Our people are our most prized commodity.”

Upcoming important dates

Now that the preliminary budget has been publicly discussed, board and executive members alike will now prepare to work through the FY25 budget process.On May 14, Bradley is slated to present the tentative budget to the board with a vote expected to follow.

The final budget is set to be voted on at the June 18 combined work session/meeting.

Once FY25 begins on July 1, the board will then vote on a final millage rate, which is tentatively scheduled to take place at the July board meeting on July 23.