Bedford panel OKs schools budget

The proposal includes money for extra teachers and a 3 percent raise for all school employees.

WORK SESSION SET

Supervisors will hold a budget work session at 5 p.m. Monday at the county’s administration building.

Friday, March 15, 2013

The Bedford County School Board on Thursday approved a $106.1 million budget for 2013-2014, which is $2.1 million more than schools Superintendent Doug Schuch had proposed.

The board will request $41.5 million from the county, level with this year's budget. The budget now goes to county supervisors, who will adopt their budget in April.

Schuch had proposed a $104 million budget, which includes $6.1 million in new money from the state after Bedford reverts from a city to a town and becomes part of the county on July 1. Schuch's proposal asked for about $2.1 million less from the county next year. The school board put that money back into its budget, which accounts for the difference between its final budget numbers and Schuch's proposal.

The additional funding includes $400,000 to hire an extra teacher for each of the district's schools that are accredited with warning. Also added into Schuch's budget was a $204,000 expenditure in order to have full-time nurses at all of the county's schools.

The budget includes a 3 percent pay raise for school employees.

On Monday, Schuch talked about his budget with supervisors, some of whom urged the superintendent not to use the new reversion money for operational expenses. Some supervisors said that they expected the reversion money, which is slated to come from the state for the next 15 years, be used for capital expenses and the debt from building a new middle school.

Schuch told supervisors that he expects the new money to go toward operating, capital and debt expenses, plus toward the added costs of taking over maintenance at Bedford middle and elementary schools and one-time expenses for a textbook fund.

The textbook fund contains $1.7 million, which the school board requests remain as a placeholder for debt-service payments in future budgets.

Supervisors will hold a budget work session at 5 p.m. Monday at the county's administration building.

The Bedford Bulletin contributed to this report.

Monday, August 12, 2013