WINONA – The board of trustees for the Winona-Montgomery Consolidated School District is requesting the same amount of funding from ad valorem taxes as last year, which currently equals 49.39 mills.
A public hearing was held Tuesday night prior to the board’s regular meeting to discuss the proposed budget for the 2020-2021 school year.
According to Amanda Gray, business manager for the district, this year’s request from the county will be $2,945,000. She estimated the allocation from the Mississippi Department of Education to be $6,438,349, which is 15 percent or $596,524 less than the state’s school funding formula.
Gray said the state instructed districts to plan for a 15 percent cut, although in the past districts were underfunded between seven and nine percent.
“Over the last three years, the district will have been underfunded a total of $2.6 million,” Gray said.
Dr. Teresa Jackson responded, “Two-point-six million could buy a lot of buses, roofs, and hire more teachers.”
The Mississippi Adequate Education Program, a law first implemented in 1997, requires the legislature to fund schools according to a specific formula established, however, according to Mississippi Association of Educators, school districts were fully-funded according to the formula just twice since MAEP was implemented.
The largest expenditure in the district’s proposed budget is for personnel. Personnel costs for FY21 are projected to increase $403,646 over last year for a total of $6,978,785. Gray said the increase is due to “normal step” payroll increases for teachers.
Currently, the district employs 78 total faculty and staff at Winona Elementary School and 69 at Winona Secondary School. However, four positions are currently vacant at the elementary school and one is vacant at the secondary school. There are 30 positions at the district office – which includes the business office, federal programs and curriculum officers, and bus drivers. One position is not expected to be filled at the elementary school, as will a part-time position in the district office.
Federal programs – Title I (a supplement for students in low income households), Title II (professional development for teachers), and Title IV (services, materials, and resources not funded by the state) – will receive $940,155, and IDEA Allocation, which funds the special education program and pre-school services like Head Start, is $449,170. The district has grant money to help fund the district’s school nurses for $50,000 and for school improvements at Winona Elementary School, which is based on student achievement.
New this year to help offset additional expenses caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the district will receive $595,754 from the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Act. This money will be used to fund the salary of a social worker to work with students to help meet individual needs during the pandemic; two certified nursing assistants to assist school nurses with additional duties like temperature checks and assessing student health; a computer technician to aid the district and parents with at-home learning; supplies like masks, hand sanitizer, cleaning supplies and additional cleaning expenses; and computers for teachers to facilitate learning at home.
Gray said the district has 28 months to allocate and spend ESSER funds, however, the funds can be used to reimburse the district for unforeseen expenses this school year due to COVID-19, retroactive to March 13.
“We have already purchased $7,000 in cleaning supplies, masks, and thermometers,” Gray said.
The district’s fund balance, funds that are state mandated to be held in reserve, is estimated to be $3,422,725 for FY21, an increase of $207,183. The Winona-Montgomery Consolidated Board of Trustees set a goal of having 12 percent of the district’s revenue in reserve, however, this year, the fund balance will be approximately 21 percent of the district’s revenue.
“With the economy and the virus, I can see that going down in the next few years,” Gray said.
The board took no action Tuesday night on the proposed FY21 budget. Gray said the district still does not have the teacher pay scale from the state nor the legislature’s MAEP allocation.
