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School Board Approves 2019-20 GCS Budget
Dec. 17, 2019 – Though the North Carolina General Assembly still hasn’t passed a final state budget, Guilford County Schools has enough pieces of the puzzle to allow it to pass a budget for fiscal year 2019-20, which began in July.
Under the approved budget, principals, assistant principals and teachers will receive salary increases as designated by the state in House Bill 377. These raises and increased benefit costs amount to about $3.7 million for GCS. Though the state did not mandate salary increases for classified employees, or those who are not required to hold a teaching license, GCS will allot about $1.6 million to provide raises for those staff members, who include teacher assistants, custodians, data managers, school office support staff and other non-licensed workers.
Earlier this month, the Board of County Commissioners voted to devote up to $800,000 to provide raises for GCS school bus drivers making less than $15 an hour. The exact dollar amount and sources for the remaining dollars are still being finalized.
School nutrition staff will receive raises out of the school nutrition fund, totaling $1 million. ACES employees will also receive raises funded by the ACES enterprise fund. Central office employees at a director level or above will not receive raises.
The final budget allocation from the county will include just more than $6.1 million for building maintenance and construction and $213 million for operations, which includes an increase of about $4 million. The district had requested an additional $10 million.
The total budget, which includes county, state and federal funds, comes to about $780 million. Of that, $708 million goes to operating expenses such as salaries, benefits and classroom materials. The state funds 61 percent of the operating budget; local money accounts for 29 percent. The district serves more than 71,000 K-12 students and an additional 7,800 students who attend charter schools.