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Troy Schools works toward budget
Published 11:00pm Friday, September 14, 2012Troy City Schools are one step closer to passing a budget for the 2012-2013 fiscal year after a second public hearing on Friday afternoon. Mickey Daughtry, chief financial officer for the district, reviewed the proposed annual budget for those present at the hearing.
The total enrollment for Kindergarten through 12th grade at Troy City Schools is 2,095 students. The proposed budget includes expenses of $5,411 per student for the year, according to Daughtry.
Teacher salaries and fringe benefits make up about 78 percent of planned expenditures for the year, Daughtry explained. There are 154 members of the school district’s teaching staff with an average experience level of 14.04 years. Sixty-six percent of the teaching staff hold a Masters degree, or higher.
While teacher experience and enrollment are positives noted in the budget, planned expenditures do exceed planned revenues for the school system for the 2012-2013 budget.
“You’ve got a gap there of $5.3 million,” Daughtry said, noting that the difference will be made up with $3.5 million in bond proceeds designated for construction and $1.8 million from the General Fund operating reserve.
The proposed budget shows total planned expenditures at $23.1 million and planned revenues at $17.7 million. Of that $17.7 million, 56 percent will come from state funding, 31 percent will be local funding and 12 percent will be federal block grants.
At the end of September 2013, the district is projected to have about three months of operating reserves. The state mandates a one-month reserve. Troy City Schools Superintendent Lee Hicks said that it isn’t normal for school systems to operate with more planned expenditures than projected revenue, but it is sometimes necessary.
“It comes down to trying to keep class size down and watching the student-teacher ratio,” Hicks said, adding that Troy schools were still in a fair position because many school systems don’t have any reserves.
Hicks also explained that the increase in enrollment this year won’t be recognized in funding until next year. “If you need teachers, you need them now, not later,” Hicks said. “A lot of school systems ‘in the red’ are doing the same thing.”
The school board will meet on Sept. 25 to vote on the proposed budget.
Always some excuse for spending more than they have. Hicks needs to spend more time worrying about the budget and less about little league football. Governments resolution to any problem….spend more money.
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Lee Hicks’ SON plays REC league football. Of course he is going to care about it! You obviously know NOTHING about Mr. Hicks outside of your criticisms of the school system. He has a beautiful, dedicated wife and two amazing children who PARTICIPATE in Troy City Rec Dept. activities. He wants the BEST for ALL kids participating in Youth league football–what dad wouldn’t? Under your theory, Pauly D (classy Jersey Shore moniker, BTW) Hicks can ONLY care about the school system. Just like the REAL Pauly D, you too are an idiot.
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going down…..you should appreciate that Steven Tyler. You are as blind as the rest. It isn’t about his son, but the rest of us who are not in his inner circle. Enjoy the ride you blind fool.
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Before they brought in Hicks, they had a 6+ month operating reserve. Now he proposes a budget that will leave them with only 3 months operating reserve.
And, wasn’t the interest rate on the bond issue based upon a credit rating when they had 6+ months operating reserve? What happens if the credit rating is reviewed and there is less than half that and they are running on a $5,300,000 budget DEFICIT?
I don’t know about the rest of the Board, but I know Judson Edwards knows you can’t operate that way. But, he is so wrapped up in the Hicks delusion that he will probably just fall in line with the rest of the lemmings.
“God made the Idiot for practice, and then He made the School Board.”–Mark Twain
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Well Omelas I guess that puts you and Pauly D on the practice squad!
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@Robbyn: I have a few questions:
1. The article mentions an increase in enrollment. How many more than this time last year?
2. How many of the increase in enrollment are in the for-pay Pre-School program?
3. How much did TCS spend/student gained when they built new classrooms?
4. Hicks mentioned earned teacher units. How many earned teacher units does the increase in enrollment account for?
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Pauly D and Omelas are just two of his multiple personalities! He has a few more to go with them! So sorry you are not in their inner circle! Do you want some cheese to go with that?
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Trojan97 and WDM continue to falsely accuse me of using multiple screen names. They simply cannot accept that there is a growing number of people who are not drinking the kool-aid.
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