By Emily Johnson
Published: May. 31, 2024 at 5:50 PM EDT|Updated: May. 31, 2024 at 6:32 PM EDT
CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCSC) - The superintendent of the Charleston County School District sat down to discuss a budget labeled the most difficult some have seen in years.
The 2024-2025 district budget is challenging for Superintendent Anita Huggins and her team because a large chunk of federal pandemic money is drying up.
The Board of Trustees unanimously passed the first reading on May 20 with two of the major budget proposals making Charleston the only district in the state to implement a new funding formula and lead teacher compensation in South Carolina.
But in what could’ve been a potentially horrible budget season, newly elected Huggins and Chief Financial Officer Daniel Prentice worked together with their teams to address everything that needed to be covered in the budget.
“The feedback has been very, very encouraging,” Huggins said. “This was, it could have been, a perfect storm with the sunset of ESSER, the likely need to raise taxes to maintain the growth and development of our students that we saw post-ESSER. It’s been very rewarding.”
Board members and the public have all shared their praises for this budget with the first reading including a $7,500 raise for teachers, classified employee raise and adoption of the Weighted Student Funding Model.
Weighted Student Funding Model
Huggins was one of the largest advocates of the Weighted Student Funding Modelsince it wouldallow resources to be allocated to help schools in the district with students in poverty, special education or multilingual.
For the number of students in a school that are in poverty, special education or multilingual, the school would receive additional resources such as a staff member or program. These students would be weighed higher than average students.
One of the original graphics presented stated around 32,000 students would fall under the funding before board members argued that students can fall into more than one category.
“There may be a pupil in poverty who is also impacted by a disability, who also may have acquired English as a second language,” Huggins said.
After hearing feedback from the first reading, Huggins and her team recreated the graphic to reflect students that could be in multiple categories with the new number being 25,000 students. That number is almost half of all students in the district that fall under poverty, special education or multilingual.
“We believe it will help students grow at faster rates, therefore allowing them to achieve at higher rates commensurate with their peers,” Huggins said. “It could provide to them the wraparound supports that they need for the social-emotional development that our children need, particularly those who are underserved or coming from backgrounds/difficult situations that not all students have to face.”
Teacher salaries
On the first reading of the budget, teacher salarieswould be increased by $7,500. Pay increases for all non-teachers and classified employees are also included in the budget, providing 100% of the market, which is an overall 6% increase.
“It’s a great time to be an educator or an employee in Charleston County,” Huggins said. “We try really hard to make working conditions favorable for our teachers and for our classified support staff. We’re excited about the pay raises.”
In April, the Charleston County Teacher Compensation Task Force is asked to incorporatethe $5,000 bonus teachers received last year to their salary. This proposal would be over that original request.
Board Member Carol Tempel asked at the May 20 meeting for the possibility of a $10,000 teacher salary increase to also be included in the second reading for the board to see how much it would potentially cost.
Huggins said the breakdown should be discussed at the upcoming Audit and Finance meeting on June 4.
Other budget key items
Other than focusing on the Weighted Student Funding Model and teacher salaries, Huggins said the budget also includes the expansion of early childhood, more college support and career readiness programs and employee daycare opportunities.
A pilot program for the employee daycare program already started downtown and in West Ashley, but in 2024 to 2025, another program will be available in North Charleston.
“We’ve gotten consistent feedback from our educators and from our staff members that daycare for children is really unaffordable here in the Lowcountry,” Huggins said. “We’re looking to expand the opportunities that we make available for employees to bring their children to work, and to go to daycare somewhere within the system.”
Millage
A 3.9 millage increase is included in the proposed budget, noting that future millage increases are not contemplated in the long-range plan. A millage rateis a tax collected on real estate and large purchases, like cars.
However, families who own and live in their homes are exempt from the increased tax on their houses for education purposes. Non-owner-occupied houses and businesses bear the brunt of a millage rate increase.
The millage increase would translate to $23.40 per $100,000 on a second home, rental, or business only. Currently, the rate is 138.3 mills, which is $829.80 per $100,000 on the same property types. This would be around a 2.8% increase.
The proposed budget also includes a 3-mill swap from the debt to operating levy, which will have the effect of a 3-mill decrease for primary residences. That will be worth a reduction of $12 for every $100,000 on a primary residence.
Feedback from board, public
Budgets can be extremely confusing and hard to understand with different models and numbers, but Huggins made it her goal since becoming superintendent in February to be transparent with the public and help make the process easier to understand.
“I promised the public. I promised them, I promised the teachers who serve our kids so unselfishly every day, that we’re going to measure outcomes, we’re going to measure the success of what we’re doing in this budget to ensure that kids are prioritized and that kids succeed as a result,” Huggins said.
The Board of Trustees has a history of not agreeing on major decisions after some controversial decisions and administrative changes over the last year. But despite the turmoil, the board voted 6 to 0 in favor of the first reading of the budget.
“I’m so happy to see our board come together and to unify around a budget that really prioritizes children,” Huggins said. “That is the mission of this district, that is their charge as trustees, and I’m proud to work alongside nine trustees, who in this process, have prioritized children.”
Upcoming meetings
The Audit and Finance Committee will meet on Tuesday at 2 p.m. to further discuss the budget.
The Committee of Whole will meet on June 10 and the Board of Trustees will meet on June 24 along with a public hearing on the budget.
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