School Board says yes to district’s $64M proposed budget, employee bonuses

The Warren County School Board during its Wednesday, February 17 regular meeting approved several action items, namely the roughly $64.11 million proposed the fiscal year 2021-2022 annual budget for Warren County Public Schools (WCPS). It is a proposed budget contingent upon what the school division actually receives from its funding sources.

“As we face uncertainties on a daily basis, it is important to note that the COVID-19 pandemic will have lingering effects on the 2021-2022 school year,” WCPS Superintendent Christopher Ballenger writes in the newly adopted budget. “However, WCPS will continue to focus on student, staff, and community needs as we plan for the upcoming year.”

The WCPS proposed budget gets adopted by the Warren County School Board each year and submitted to the Warren County Board of Supervisors. The budget covers the fiscal year (FY) July 1 through June 30 of the following calendar year. WCPS receives funding from three main sources: state, local, and federal, with the district receiving 45 percent of revenue from Warren County for the operation of the school system and funding for capital improvement projects. Other miscellaneous funds generated from secondary sources provide additional revenue streams for the division, Ballenger said.

Here’s how the FY 2022 WCPS proposed budget breaks down:

View the proposed budget here.

The proposed budget also focuses on WCPS employees, “because they get the job done,” Ballenger said, adding that the budget directly addresses the division’s continued focus on ensuring that WCPS is competitive with salary and benefits.

An expenditures focus has been placed on ensuring steps and years of experience are aligned for all WCPS employees on all salary scales, according to the proposed budget, which notes that several salary scales required additional adjustments.

“The School Board appreciates all WCPS employees and this is a continuation of the work they started last year when they were able to address teacher salaries,” Ballenger wrote to the Royal Examiner in an email sent on February 18. “The top priority is personnel. This budget focuses on compensation and additional staff to support the division’s growing instructional needs.”

The top priority is personnel says WCPS Superintendent Christopher Ballenger. Photo and video by Mike McCool, Royal Examiner.

For example, the budget proposal includes a 2 percent salary increase and a step raise adjustment to the teacher scale, and updates and adjusts steps for instructional assistants, school administrative assistants, head secretary, secretary, therapist, and speech positions.

Administrator scales were not adjusted, but individuals were moved to the step that was consistent with their years of experience in an administrative role. Overall, this represents a cost to WCPS of $2,557,620 for the FY 2022 school year.

Among expenditures, the school division wants to address other instructional areas and requests funds for several new positions at a cost of $469,590. The positions are one English Language teacher; two Gifted and Talented teachers; a half-time Criminal Justice teacher; one History teacher; one Special Education assistant teacher; and one Sign Language Interpreter.

In an expenditure summary chart included in the budget proposal, WCPS breaks down costs and the corresponding percentages of the overall budget proposal this way:

1. Instruction: $49,008,120 (76.44%)

2. Operations & Maintenance: $6,627,383 (10.34%)

3. Pupil Transportation: $2,923,802 (4.56%)

4. Administration, Attendance & Health: $2,836,279 (4.42%)

5. Technology: $1,949,722 (3.04%)

6. Debt Service & Fund Transfers: $614,253 (0.96%)

7. Contingency Reserve: $150,859 (0.24%)

8. Facilities: 0 dollars.

[NOTE:] For more details, including on proposed Capital Improvements, the Royal Examiner provides a copy of the School Board-approved WCPS budget proposal below.

Following Ballenger’s presentation of the budget proposal, School Board Chairman Arnold Williams, Jr., was pleased to learn that the teacher retention rate is up, and he noted that WCPS and the board worked diligently on the proposed budget during a Work Session held on Tuesday, February 16 with the Warren County Board of Supervisors.

School Board member James Wells motioned to approve the proposed budget and a second was made by board member Ralph Rinaldi, with all members, including Vice Chairwoman Catherine Bower and board members Kristen Pence, Wells, Rinaldi, and Williams voting yes.

Other board actions
The Warren County School Board also unanimously approved a one-time bonus for WCPS employees.

Superintendent Ballenger explained that when the FY 2021 WCPS Operating Budget was approved on May 6, 2020, salary increases for all employees except teachers were placed on hold due to the uncertainties with the evolving pandemic.

It was stated then that as the year progressed, conditions would be reassessed to determine if salary adjustments could be made mid-year. Two of the major concerns regarding the impact of the pandemic on the budget were impacts on student membership and sales tax collections — both drivers in determining state revenue. Through December 2020, Ballenger said, state sales tax collections have met targeted revenue projections and all three state-level current budget bills include holding school divisions harmless for student enrollment loss suffered due to the pandemic.

According to the superintendent, the COVID-19 pandemic affected the number of students enrolled in Warren County, with budget data showing that WCPS counted 5,204 students in the school year 2019-2020 and counted 4,994 students during the school year 2020-2021.

Because it is so late in the school year, Ballenger said that a salary increase would have minimal effect for employees while also creating an ongoing cost that the yet-to-be-approved FY 2022 budget may not be able to sustain.

For these reasons, he recommended, and the board approved, a one-time bonus that will be paid to all full-time and part-time employees on Friday, March 26, which is the last day of work before Spring Break.

Full-time employees will receive a net (take-home) payment of $1,000 while part-time employees will receive a net payment of $500. The total estimated cost of these payments is $1,213,980.

For employees hired after September 30, 2020, the payment will be prorated based on their hire date:

• October 1, 2020, to October 31, 2020: 75%

• November 1, 2020, to November 30, 2020: 67%

• December 1, 2020, to December 31, 2020: 50%

• January 1, 2021, to March 3, 2021: 25%

“I would say that our staff in the whole county has literally turned on a dime daily, sometimes hourly” during the ongoing pandemic, said School Board Chairman Arnold Williams, Jr. “I feel this is the least we can do to help them out. I think we have the ability to do it, and we should do it.”

Among other actions, the School Board also approved two one-year contract extensions for Sodexo America, LLC to continue as the WCPS food management and custodial services provider for the period of July 1, 2021, to June 30, 2022. There is no cost increase for the 2021-2022 school year on either Sodexo contract, said Melody Sheppard, WCPS assistant superintendent for instruction.
Sodexo has done a phenomenal job, Sheppard said, and “we really appreciate their service to our school division.”

Watch the entire School Board’s February 17 meeting below.