The Columbia County Board of Education voted to give final approval to the school district’s tentative budget for the 2022-2023 school year during its work session meeting on Tuesday, May 24.
“You can see that our total estimated revenue this year is at a little bit over $293 million, and our total estimated expenditures are just under that at $290 million,” said Superintendent Steven Flynt before the school board.
The work session’s discussion of district funds marks the fourth and last presentation of the tentative budget, the first being during the April 26 meeting, followed by a question-and-answer session in a public meeting on the morning of Monday, May 3; and another during the regular session on May 10, at which the board voted to give the budget tentative approval.
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Flynt said that salary improvements made up the “largest portion of the change” to this year’s budget. The largest change to certified teachers’ salaries, he noted, was the $2,000 increase to their salary scale provided by the state.
Flynt also noted that the district is proposing that teachers be allowed to continue with their 21 salary steps, or incremental increases based on experience, and recommending a 5% cost of living increase to local teachers (except for Georgia Department of Early Care and Learning Pre-K teachers, who are currently paid on just the state scale) on top of the $2,000.
All other school district positions, Flynt said, would be receiving the 5% increase, but no step increase.
“We believe that this increase in pay will help us to be more competitive, across the board,” said Flynt, mentioning that the district is currently looking to fill 40 out of 170 allocated custodial positions.
Associate Superintendent Michele Sherman spoke before the board about a proposed new dramatic writing, film and television course to be introduced in Columbia County high schools.
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“The film industry has begun to rise at exponential levels across our state,” said Sherman, noting the Georgia Department of Economic Development’s announcement last July that the film and television industry set a record with $4 billion in direct spendings on productions in Georgia. “As a result, we need to ensure that we are preparing our students to be competitive in the workforce that they will soon enter.”
A teacher from each high school is to participate in training offered by the Georgia Film Academy over the summer and, if approved, the course will be offered as an elective in all five of the county’s high schools during the 2022-2023 school year.
Skyler Q. Andrews is a staff reporter covering education in Columbia County and business-related topics for The Augusta Press. Reach him at skyler@theaugustapress.com.
