Buster Wolfe
The Lamar County School District’s 2019-2020 budget will be presented at the July 10 Board meeting, but it will not include funds for buying new school buses. That money is being held to pay for the $1,500 annual raise that the Legislature approved for teachers.
Gov. Phil Bryant signed Senate Bill 2770 on April 16, approving a $1,500 pay raise for the state’s teachers. However, inaccurate information from the Department of Education was discovered on April 24, and not enough money was allocated for the pay raises.
Lamar County’s teacher pay-raise shortfall is almost $400,000 including salaries and benefits, according to Superintendent Tess Smith, who said she is still waiting to get a verified teacher count from the Mississippi Department of Education for budgeting purposes.
“We were shorted 197 teachers (by the state), so last week we verified that account to get our totals back up right,” she said. “But we have not heard from the MDE.”
During their last budget workshop, Smith told the School Board the budget would not include new school buses.
“I just told them that I am holding off on any bus purchases because we’re probably not going to get that money for raises until the spring,” she said. “I wouldn’t imagine that they’ve got $15 million to $20 million sitting out there because it’s probably going to cost that much when the dust settles. So, I’m not going to make my bus purchases and hold that money in reserve so we can make payroll.”
Lamar County has 850 total teachers, and 69 are paid with federal funds. Smith said those 69 could not receive raises from the Legislature.
“They will (get the pay raise); they just have to have another way to get them their raise,” she said. “We knew we had to be prepared to fund that (federal employee) portion. This doesn’t have anything to do with the count mishap.”
Smith said the state’s teacher tally will determine if the pay raise will be fully funded.
“(State officials) are hopefully going to verify our count and we are going to get enough money for our state-funded teachers to get their pay raise,” she said. “We always knew that we were going to have to come up with the pay raise for our federal teachers. You can’t blend those monies.”
In the Petal School District, 75 of the 291 teachers were not counted by the state. In salary alone, the shortfall amounts to $112,500.
Petal School’s Superintendent, Dr. Matthew Dillon, said the state is working to correct the count error.
“We have worked with MDE to provide accurate information so that all of our teachers and teacher assistants receive the pay raise,” he said. “We have been informed the money will be allocated at the state level at some point.”
Hattiesburg Public School District Superintendent Dr. Robert Williams said he was also awaiting definitive, corrected teacher numbers from the state.
“All districts in the state were given an opportunity to submit corrections to the Mississippi Department of Education, so now we’re just waiting to hear back on the data we submitted,” he said. “However, all certified teachers and teacher assistants will receive the $1,500 increase using federal, state or local funds.”
Williams said the school district may have to make up the shortfall, which will require diligent bookkeeping.
“We hope that all teachers will be covered by MAEP, but if not, we are making the necessary financial decisions to cover those salaries with district funds,” he said. “We continue to monitor our expenditures to ensure that we do not exceed our revenue.”
In the Forrest County School District, the shortfall in the numbers will only affect 25 teachers who were not included in the initial state figures, Superintendent Brian Freeman said. Freeman added that he was concerned when he first saw the difference in the district and state numbers.
“We are all hoping that the Legislature and the state will be able to follow up with the correct amount,” he said. “If not, we are fortunate to have a very strong fund balance that we may have to use to make sure we meet payroll.”
Forest County Agricultural School District Superintendent, Dr. Donna Boone, said half of her staff was only partially funded by the state. She said the district has 56 teachers.
“The biggest problem I have seen is while we have five teachers who are paid by federal funds, we expected the state to say that we have 51 teachers who are paid by the state,” she said. “Twenty-two of those are partially funded. So, almost half of our faculty are affected.”
Boone said she expects the funding to make up the shortfall come next year.
“I sat in on the State Board (of Education) meeting last Thursday,” she said. “And, I think they are going to wait until after December for the Legislature to come back in session and make up the difference.”
Meanwhile, according to the signed bill, the pay-raises go into effect July 1, 2019.