001Mhm. >> Good evening and welcome to the Wednesday, May 13th public hearing on our budget of the Savannah-Chatham County Board of Education. This is a hearing. What that means is we sit and hear from the public. But first we'll have a presentation by Ms. Googling. >> Thank you, Mr. Moss, and good evening, everyone. Um as Mr. Moss stated, this is our public hearing on the budget where we're asking for input. Next. Tonight's presentation outlines how we are aligning every dollar with our strategic priorities for student achievement. We remain committed to fiscal responsibility, transparent budgeting, efficient use of public funds, and ensuring our community understands how resources are used. This budget supports safe, modern learning environments, strengthens recruitment and retention, and expands academic and social-emotional supports. We are also emphasizing return on investment, evaluating whether our
002spending is producing measurable improvements. Next. The budget is built to advance the four pillars of the strategic plan for SCCPSS. Our fiscal year 2027 budget is directly tied to the strategic plan 2031, creating a future-ready student experience. Pillar one focuses on academic excellence, literacy, numeracy, student engagement, and future-focused pathways. Pillar two strengthens our workforce, recruitment, retention, coaching, and leadership development. Pillar three evaluates engagement with families and partners. Pillar four ensures operational excellence, modernizing data, systems, transportation, facilities, and financial stewardship. Next slide, please. We are committed to transparency. This is the second of two budget public budget hearings. Millage rate hearings follow in June, culminating in final adoption on June 24th. We encourage public participation and participation throughout this process. Next slide, please. Millage rate history. Our millage rate has steadily decreased over time from 18.881
003in 2020 to 17.331 mills today. This reflects our commitment to responsible stewardship while still meeting student needs. Next slide, please. Millage rate comparison. SCCPSS's millage rate remains in the middle of the pack compared to other Georgia districts. We are lower than many larger districts such as Gwinnett, Cobb, DeKalb, and Atlanta Public Schools. This context is important as we balance affordability for taxpayers with the needs of our students. Next slide, please. Budget development influencing factors. Several forces shape our fiscal year 27 budget, economic conditions, enrollment trends, inflation, and state mandates. We are also aligning resources with the strategic plan and incorporating community and board feedback. Long-term sustainability remains a priority. Next slide, please. Economic and enrollment factors determine the district's funding levels and the types of services required. Rising costs such as inflation, transportation, utilities, and
004the expansion of student support services are putting pressure on the district operations. The district shift towards modified zero-based budgeting means programs must demonstrate measurable outcomes to justify funding. Workforce challenges remain a major driver, especially in hard-to-fill positions. Community engagement continues to shape priorities and long-term planning ensures responsible stewardship of resources. Next slide slide, please. Budget overview. Departments submitted mandatory baseline and strategic requests, as can be seen in this chart. The total preliminary request is 683.7 million, which is a 2% increase from fiscal year 26. Most of the growth is driven by mandatory costs, which includes our benefits, retirement, and step increases. Next slide, please. Strategic initiatives. Strategic investments are targeted and aligned with our pillars. Key academic initiatives include school transformation, math textbook adoption, mental health expansion, and early childhood Montessori integration. Operational initiatives include
005AI readiness training, leadership development, a formative assessment platform, and expanded transportation options. Engagement initiatives include enrollment recovery campaigns, and enhanced family engagement staffing. Next slide, please. And on this next slide, you can see some of the other initiatives in our budget. Next slide, please. Mandatory personnel costs growth. Mandatory personnel costs increase increases total by 12.4 million dollars. This includes our teachers retirement system increases, our state health benefit increases, and step increases. These are required to maintain our current workforce. Next slide, please. COLA scenarios. We modeled several cost of living adjustments COLA scenarios. A 3% COLA, our starting point, adds 12.7% to personnel cost. We will continue evaluating affordability as revenue projections are finalized. Next slide, please. FY 27 preliminary general fund budget. The preliminary general fund budget total $708.8 million, a 6% increase from fiscal
006year 26. This includes the mandatory cost growth and the preliminary COLA assumptions. School allocations represent the largest share of the budget as can be seen in the in the table. Next slide, please. Revenue assumptions. Revenue projections depend on property values, enrollment, QBE funding, and legislative decisions. We are using conservative assumptions, a 5% growth in property values, and a 1.2% enrollment decline. The model currently assumes maintaining the millage rate at 17.331 mills. Next slide, please. Forecasted revenues. Total projected general fund revenues for fiscal year 27 is $711.9 million. Local revenue remains our largest funding source, as you can see on the graph. Next slide, please. Current budget request and surplus. Based on current assumptions, we project a $3.1 million surplus. This would contribute to fund balance and support long-term stability. These numbers will adjust once the
007final tax digest is released. Next slide, please. All funds budget. Across all funds, the general fund, the debt service fund, capital projects, and special revenue funds, the total projected expenditures are $992 million. This This reflects the full scope of district operations. Next slide, please. Stewardship and fund summaries. Each fund is balanced with revenues matching expenditures. Special revenue funds include federal programs such as Title I, special education, and pre-K. Internal service funds cover workers compensation, unemployment, and legacy dental plan obligations. Next slide, please. Next slide, please. As you can see here, this is how much we have budgeted for in revenue expenditures for our general fund, our debt service fund, and our capital projects fund. Next slide, please. These are our special revenue funds, such as Title I, special ed, and pre-K that we talked about
008that that we have in our school district, and these are the amounts of revenues and expenditures projected. Next slide, please. These are additional special revenue funds. Next slide, please. Here are internal service funds, which includes our workers compensation, our unemployment, and our employee dental plan. Um the SCCPS dental plan, there there's a footnote at the bottom. When we used to do it as a uh self-insured program, after we discontinued that particular program, this is the balance that was or this is the balance that is still left from that. And this is um open for us to spend, but we still do have to follow um state and federal guidelines and laws. Next slide, please. Our goal is a budget that is student-centered, transparent, and sustainable. We welcome community input as we refine the fiscal year
0092017 budget ahead of final adoption in June. Together, we can ensure every student has access to a choice-filled future. Thank you for your time. >> As I said, this is a public hearing where we hear from the public. If we have anyone from the public who would like to speak, please come up. Not everyone at once. Okay. >> Mr. Morris, board members, Dr. Watts, I'm speaking tonight as a Chatham County taxpayer. There is a Georgia law, OCGA 20-2-167 (a) (5). That law says that the fund balance the school district can budget for in the upcoming year is limited to 15% of that year's total budget. The district has been in violation of this law for at least the last several years. This isn't my opinion. It was stated in the report by the auditors the
010last two annual audit reports. The data I'm going to talk about for the next couple minutes come either from last year's 2025 annual comprehensive financial report or from the presentation last week, which was the same as the one Ms. Cooley just gave tonight. The unassigned fund balance as of June 30th, 2025 was $195 million. The FY26 budget that was approved was $670 million. 15% of that $670 million equals $101 million. Last year, you violated the law and budgeted an extra $94 million of taxpayer money into the fund balance. The proposed 2027 budget that was just reviewed is $712 million. 15% of that is $107 million. We don't know yet what the projected fund balance will be on June 30th, but assuming it's the same as last year, it'll probably be similar. The law requires you
011to reduce the fund balance by $87 million in this year's budget. So, the question I have is, do you have a legal opinion stating you don't have to follow this law? If you do, I think you should make it public so the public knows that. If not, I suggest you follow the law and stop overtaxing our taxpayer community. Thank you very much. >> Thank you. For paying anyone else, I will entertain a motion to adjourn. It's been moved and seconded. All in favor? Thank you.