Immediately after hosting their second public hearing Tuesday morning, the Liberty County School System Board of Education approved the final budget for the 2021 fiscal year. The BOE Special Called meeting was held was held right after the public hearing via Zoom and streamed on the LCSS Facebook Page.
The budget was presented by LCSS Executive Director of Finance Stephanie Clark.
The FY 2021 budget amounts to $125,710,130.00 which is a decrease of last year’s budget of $127,954,000.00. The total expenditure budget for FY 2021 is approx. 115.8 million representing a 2.5 million or 2.2 percent decrease over the FY 2020 budget.
The LCSS has the $115.8 million allocated to the General Fund and the remainder allocated to Capital Projects.
The proposed beginning fund balance for FY2021 is $18,752,799.00. The LCSS expects to bring in $22,928,712.00 from the collection of local property taxes. The School system expects to receive $66,218,299.00 from the state, 23,874,152.00 from federal funding and $1,234,402.00 from other sources.
The projected expenditures for FY 2021 include $71,391,548.00 on instruction, $5,155,929.00 for pupil services, $3,394,144.00 for improvements of instructional services, $1,934,774.00 for instructional staff training, $2,129,879.00 on media services, $151,520.00 for federal grant administration, $1,694,750.00 on general administration and $7,033,441.00 on school administration. The budget allows the LCSS to maintain all the current staff they have, not reduce calendar days and avoids furloughs.
The LCSS has roughly 10,000 students at 15 different learning sites.
The Board also approved the hiring of a Human Resources Coordinator and the purchase of a 2020 Ford Explorer SUV from J.C. Lewis Hinesville for $56,221.97 from the operating funds to add to the school system’s fleet.
At the end of the meeting LCSS Superintendent Dr. Franklin Perry said he considers their re-opening plan one of the best in the state. He said School Administrators were already back to work to prepare for the school year.