COLUMBIA – Richland School District Two will hold second reading and board vote on the FY 2022-2023 general fund budget on Tuesday, July 12.
Because the South Carolina General Assembly did not finalize the Appropriations Act for FY 22-23 until June 15, the district is currently operating under a continuing resolution until the budget is approved.
“Due to our heavy dependence on state allocations,” a press release from the district stated, “it is very difficult to complete our budget process without knowing the amount of state allocations that our district will receive. Approximately 63 percent of revenues for Richland Two’s general fund budget come from state sources.
“The Richland Two Board of Trustees approved a continuing resolution enabling Richland Two to continue operating (issuing paychecks, paying bills, keeping the lights on, etc.) in case we were unable to pass a general fund budget before June 30, 2022.”
The Richland Two Board voted to submit a millage request increase of 18.4 mills for the district’s local tax portion of the general fund budget for FY 22-23. County council voted on a no mill increase for all millage agencies at their meeting June 7, 2022.
According to the press release, the district’s request for a millage increase was based on budget projections using the second version of the state budget passed by the S.C. House of Representatives, which included the requirement to maintain the local salary supplement for the teacher salary schedule. The final version of the state budget passed on June 15 did not include that mandate, which substantially reduced the potential for a budget deficit.
Richland Two finance administrators presented the first reading of the FY 22-23 general fund budget at the June 28 meeting of the Richland Two Board of Trustees.
Salary Increases
In both the Employee Budget Survey and Board Budget Survey, “employee compensation” ranked as the highest priority. The following increases are part of the proposed budget for FY 22–23:
- Teacher Salary Schedule Step increase from FY 21–22 (for eligible employees)
- All Non-teacher Salary Step increase from FY 21–22 (for eligible employees)
- Increase to Teacher Salary Schedule of 2% per cell (for eligible employees)
- Increase all other Salary Schedules by 2% (includes related fringe benefits costs)
- State increase to Bus Driver Salary Schedule of 8% (increase includes 8% for bus monitors)
- Increase Instructional Aides Salary Schedule by an additional 3%
- Increase Maintenance/Custodial Salary Schedule by an additional 3%
Cost Savings
The proposed FY 22-23 budget includes $3,000,000 in cost savings based on staff turnover. The FY 21-22 budget included the following cost savings:
- Decrease in utilities budget related to annual recurring cost savings ($1,200,000)
- Decrease in expenditures related to annual transfer to the Charter High School ($895,000)
- Decrease in expenditures related to continued cost savings in the General Fund salary & fringe budget ($2,845,000)
The July 12 Public Hearing and Board Vote will be held at 6:30 p.m.at the R2i2 Conference Center.