001and going. Go ahead, Dr. Sultan. Okay. Thank you. We will now call this meeting to order at 8:00 exactly. The purpose of this budget hearing is for the public to provide feedback on the tenatively adopted budget. This hearing is similar to public comment at our monthly board meeting. Therefore, members of the board will not address persons commenting or speaking on to the substance of any comments made during the budget hearing. Instead, a member of the administrative team will follow up with persons commenting or asking questions. The FY26 budget presentation on May 13th will include responses to comments or questions made this morning. Dr. Broom, please proceed with the budget hearing presentation. Thank you. Good morning, Chair Dr. Sultan, Vice Chair Mr. Uts, esteemed members of the board, Superintendent Dr. Wer. Today's budget hearing gives the
002community and all stakeholders an opportunity to provide verbal feedback and comments on the fiscal year 26 tenative budget. Georgia state law code title 20 education 20-2-167.1 specifies that each school governing body shall hold at least two public meetings for the purpose of providing an opportunity for public input on its proposed annual operating budget before adopting any budget. All public meetings with budget discussions satisfy this requirement. The district has held approximately 11 public meetings on the budget. The community has been actively engaged in the budget process and has submitted over 80 comments via the budget link which remains open throughout the year. Additionally, budget discussions have taken place at over 10 board meetings and two board community meetings which consisted of open dial. Today I present to you the fiscal year 26 tenative budget for all
003funds. Although the budget is aligned directly with one or more of the district's four strategic accelerators, the budget falls under strategic accelerator 4, organizational effectiveness and excellence through financial transparency. The budget process is ongoing. However, the official fiscal year 26 budget adoption process began in September with a review of the budget timeline. Since that time, budget discussions have taken place each month. The budget timeline was adopted in October along with a review and discussion of fiscal year 25 school aotment guidelines. budget parameters and priorities which serve as a guide to building the budget were discussed in addition to a review of the fisc year 24 budget. At November's board retreat, discussions continued on the school aotment guideline and the board was presented with the fisc year 25 salary and benefit comparison to other metro Atlanta
004districts. In December, the board approved the midyear budget amendment and adopted the school aotment guidelines and budget parameters and priorities. The external auditors presented a clean fiscal year 24 audit to the board in J. Each month this fiscal year, the board and community have been presented with various financial reports on all funds. Additionally, presentations by the tax commissioner's office and DeCar's city manager were presented in February. A five-year financial review and the fiscal year 26 preliminary draft number one was also presented in February. In March, the board was presented with a summary of how federal, state, and funds were used and the preliminary budgets for federal, state, and SPLAS funds. General fund preliminary budget draft number two was also presented in March. A community meeting with an open dialogue for questions and answers was held
005in March. Last month, the board tenatively adopted the tenatively bud the tenative budget followed by a community meeting with open dialogue. Today is the first of two public virtual budget hearings. The second hearing will be held virtually at 4:30 p.m. this evening. The board approves four budgets. The school nutrition budget is the first of the four budgets and the fiscal year 26 tenative expenditures are approximately $4 million. The projected revenue is approximately $3.4 million. Which means to balance the budget, the general fund must supplement the school nutrition budget by [Music] 728,53. The school nutrition program is required to have a fund balance equivalent to a minimum of three months of operating expenditures. The school nutrition budget will be utilized to fund personnel, salaries, and benefits, and operational costs for the school nutrition program. The details
006of the school nutrition budget have been presented to the board at previous board meetings and work sessions. Special revenue funds is the second of the four budgets the board approves. The special revenue budget consists of grant funds. Grant funds are received primarily from the federal and state governments. The district is anticipating a minimum of approximately $2.8 million in grant funds. The district received state funds from the lottery for prek and federal funds for a variety of grants including title JTC and purpose. Grant funds can only be used for the specific purpose they were awarded and are budget neutral in that expenditures equal revenues. When expenditures do not equal revenues, the general fund supplements the difference as shown by the $216,10 transfer in for the prek program. The details of the special revenue budget have been
007presented to the board at previous board meetings and work sections. Capital funds and splass is the third of the four budgets that the board approves. Capital funds consists of splass funds received from the 1 cent sales tax for local purchases in the cab county. Total expenditures for fiscal year 26 for splass is approximately $9 million. Total revenue is anticipated at 11.5 million which consists of $70 million from SPLA 6 proceeds, $120,000 from entries, and approximately $4.4 4 million from fiscal year 25 projected ending fund balance. Fisc year 26 ended fund balance from splice proceeds is projected to be approximately $2.4 million. SPL funds can only be used for capital projects, textbooks, and band instruments. Spllos funds cannot be used for personnel expenses. The details of the splice budget have been presented to the board at
008previous board meetings and work sessions. The fourth and final budget the board approves is the general fund. The general fund is the district's primary and largest operating budget. Major revenue sources are taxes and state funds. The local taxes are based on a 5% net tax increase from fiscal year 25 and a 1/ half millage rate increase as shown highlighted in orange on the bottom table to the right. Since approving the tenative budget, the district has received a tax digest from the tax assessor's office and the pre preliminary net t net net tax increase is 8.79% which is 3.79% more than the 5% on which this budget was built. This will increase revenue by approximately 2.4 million with a millage rate increase from 20.3 to 20.80. Other local consists of locally generated revenue such as tuition
009for the ECLC and tuition from non-resident K5 students. Other local revenue include facility rental, alcohol taxes, and surplus. State revenue of funds received from the quality basic education program, also referred to as QBE. This revenue is based primarily on student enrollment and schedule. Total anticipated revenue for the fiscal year 26 tenative budget is7,534,675. Fisc year 26 expenditures are projected to be 110,649,116. Included in these expenditures are a minimum of a 3% salary increase for all non-instructional employees and a minimum of a 4% salary increase for all teachers. Both salaries and operational expenses are included in this budget. Highlighted in yellow is the total revenue and total expenditures. Expenditures are approximately $3.1 million more than revenue, which means this amount will need to be deducted from the fund balance to balance the budget as shown highlighted
010in blue at the top table to the right. The projected ended fund balance is 13.3 million. Highlighted in pink on the table to the right are 12% of expenditures based on a millage rate of 20.80. 80 board policy DCL requires a fund balance percentage between four and 15%. This slide shows the historical trend of the millage rate from 2017 to present. In the last nine years, the millage rate was 18.66 66 at the lowest in 2017 through 2019 and 21 at the highest and 22 and 23. Fiscal year 26 proposed millage rate is 20.80. The tenative approval of the millage rate will take place at the board meeting on May 13. The millage rate fluctuates based on the economy and needs of the district. based on a millage rate of 20.80 and a tax dig
011digest growth of 5% for property with a value of $600,000. The proposed 20.8 mill rate and 5% growth in the tax digest would increase property taxes annually by $462. For every $100,000 of property value, property owners would see an annual increase of $17. Again, the actual net taxes percent increase of 8.79% was received last week and the board will discuss the tenative millage rate at the May 13th board meeting. This slide shows all four fiscal year 26 budgets. The total fiscal year 26 budget for all funds is 126,650,630. Some of the budget highlights for fiscal year 26 include funding unmandate unmandated insurance and TRS increases, salary increases, investment in safety and security, increased revenue from tuition for non-resident students in grades K through five, a fund balance between four and 15%. Life insurance for full-time
012employees. Stipens and signing bonuses for special education teachers and parent professionals. Three school-based student safety associates for school. Three schoolbased student outcome support position. A reduction of one central office position and the addition of a one one-year term executive director position for succession planning at the deputy superintendent's office. instructional reserve and a one half m millage rate increase from 20.30 to 20.80. The fiscal year 26 budget is directly aligned with the strategic accelerators and the board budget priority. This table identifies each strategic accelerator, the fiscical year 26 board budget priorities and the fiscical year 26 budget alignment investments and organizational effectiveness and excellence, including rebates for districts purchasing card, Chick-fil-A grant for professional development, and a transparent modified zerobased budgeting process where every oper operational requests had to be discussed and justified. Investments in cultivating
013and retaining quality professionals include maintaining a competitive compensation structure and tuition incentives through the expansion of the university pathway for staff. Investments in building and sustaining and engaging an inclusive culture include increased security, including contracted services for school resource officers with the city of Decar and a continuation of the partnership with communities in school. Investments in student success in all areas include six school-based positions allocated to the school for safety and security and equitable outcome support at the elementary level. Refresh of 62 student devices, summer school for grades 3 through 12 and after school tutoring for grades through 3 through 8 and support for ACT SAT prep. This list is inclusive but not exclusive and will definitely have a positive impact on all students. Next steps for the fiscical year 26 budget. Final approval of
014the budget and tenative approval of the millage rate at the May 13th board meeting. three public virtual millage rate hearings, one at 9:00 am and 6:15 p.m. and the third meeting on the on June 20th at 6 pm, followed by final adoption of the property tax millage rate at 6:30 p.m. The budget book will be printed and available for public review by August 20th, 2025. The budget feedback link. Next slide. The budget feedback link is also an option for providing feedback. The link can be scanned using the barcode and is located on the district's main and finance website. This concludes the fiscical year 26 budget hearing presentation. Thank you Dr. Broom for the presentation. Um, Essen, do we have anybody signed up for comment? No, ma'am. No raised hands. Okay. Thank you so much. Then
015I think we can move into adjournment. Thank you for attending the budget hearing. The board's next monthly meeting will be held on Tuesday, May 13, uh, at 4:30 p.m. in the Wilson Center. This meeting is adjourned at 8:17 a.m. Thank you.