Savannah-Chatham schools FY 2025 proposed budget: pre-K waitlists could grow

Savannah-Chatham County Public School System (SCCPSS) District 6 School Board Representative David Bringman feels that the State of Georgia "is making it harder to teach pre-K." His comment came during the district's School Year 2024-25 Budget Development Process presentation at Wednesday's meeting of the board's Financial Advisory Committee, which he chairs.

He was referring to the Fiscal Year 2025 Conference Committee Version Bill (HB 916) that Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp has yet to sign, which would approve Georgia's 2025 budget. Within the House and Senate approved budget, Section 22.3 for Pre-Kindergarten Program, legislators called for reducing pre-K class sizes from 22 to 20 with the intention to "improve the quality of early learning and increase school readiness for Georgia's 4-year-olds." A major unknown is how school districts fund more classes to offset the reduction in class size. Hence Bringman's comment.

Pre-K problem: Smaller class sizes means more classes needed

At Wednesday's meeting, SCCPSS Budget Director Paige Cooley guided the stewardship portion of the presentation. "We cannot serve as many pre-K students next year if they [state legislators] do not allocate more resources for more teachers for the pre-K program."

District 1 representative Denise Grabowski asked Cooley if the district knew whether or not the state would provide additional funding to support more classes.

Deputy Superintendent of Teaching and Learning Bernadette Ball-Oliver clarified that school districts can lobby the state "to ask for an increase in pre-K programs." She and Cooley confirmed that SCCPSS's Program Manager for Early Childhood Education Amanda Drought had already done so. Ball-Oliver also stressed that while the state may agree to SCCPSS adding more programs and receiving funds, SCCPSS would still need to continue to supplement pre-K teachers' state-funded pay so that those teachers are at the same pay rate as K-12 teachers.

The Georgia Budget & Policy Institute (GBPI) produced an overview of the 2025 Fiscal Year Budget for the Georgia Department of Early Care and Learning (DECAL) in January. DECAL administers the state's pre-K program. GBPI's overview stated that DECAL Commissioner Amy Jacobs acknowledged that "reducing class sizes from 22 children to 20 children would add about 400 classrooms over four years."

The actual number of increased classrooms is listed as 382 in the legislator-approved budget with $9.5 million earmarked to assist with the change, which is listed as line item 1596 on HB 916.

Funding for starting new programs is also accounted for in the bill. The nearly $17.5 million on line item 1600 is to "increase operating funds for pre-K programs." It would elevate start-up grants from $8,000 to $30,000 for each new pre-K classroom approved by the state.

The full amount of start-up funds is budgeted at $1,981,493, or equivalent to about 66 new pre-k classrooms statewide. The remainder of the nearly $17.5 million would go toward "$15,000 replenishment grants every five years ($11,454,000), and increasing transportation funding from $16.50 per category I student to $80.78 per student for all students ($4,052,718)."

District proposes pay increase for drivers

HB 916 also addresses school bus driver pay. Line item 4714 Section 53: Salary Adjustments includes a "4.1% in the state base salary for local school bus drivers."

Outside of that state budget item, SCCPSS leaders have proposed tapping into the district's general fund to increase bus driver and monitor pay. The starting rate would increase from $18.67 to $21.48 per hour with the mean hourly rate at $29.34 per hour.

Bringman asked for clarification about how much of the total cost of living adjustments (COLA) for the district, totaling $29.8 million (which includes bus driver and bus monitor compensation increases), would be funded by local tax dollars. SCCPSS administrators have proposed absorbing the driver and monitor 2025 pay increases without state assistance.

Cooley confirmed there will be 293 bus driver and 158 bus monitor positions for fiscal year 2025, which makes for a total of 451 positions at the new pay rate levels. The district did not state how many of those roles might already be filled.

Number of 'staffing enhancements' proposed

Here's a breakdown of the new roles proposed across the district as well as some roles specifically identified to be maintained:

New positions

• 27 English Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) support positions

• 36 positions for Georgia Network for Educational and Therapeutic Support (GNETS) Programs*

• 32 secondary counselors

• Executive Director of Engagement & Outreach

• Communications Director of Brand and Marketing

• Video Services Specialist

*GNETS is defined in SCCPSS's proposal as "a network of programs designed to provide comprehensive educational support and therapeutic support services to students with server emotional and behavioral disorders." Such positions were previously funded through state and federal grants, which are no longer available. The costs for the district to have these positions would be about $3.3 million dollars.

Maintained positions

• 4 Bilingual Liaisons

• ESOL Coordinator

• Literacy Effectiveness Officer (currently filled by Cherie Goldman as of Feb. 1)

• 10 Academic Deans (Ball-Oliver stated these positions were started to "focus also on the school climate and culture and helping our schools look at alternative consequences and lowering our suspension numbers.")

• 3 Wellness Center Counselors

• Parent and Community Engagement Liaison

Opportunities for public feedback

Watts talked about the three possible pathways district leaders weighed when devising the budget proposal. Her team decided the path to pursue at this time would be "maintain and enhance investments we have already made," rather than reduce and reallocate expenditures, or increase revenue through combination of increasing the millage rate, seeking grant funding and increasing enrollment. Which path is ultimately chosen could change once the board has had time to review and provide input before a final vote later this year.

The public will also have its chance to provide feedback. A district survey about budget priorities closed on April 24, but the following events will allow for public discourse on both the budget and the millage rate. All of the following events will take place at SCCPSS's Eli Whitney Administrative Complex, Building G in the Jessie Collier DeLoach Boardroom.

• Public Hearing on Budget at 6 p.m. | May 8

• Public Hearing on Budget at 6 p.m. | May 15

• Board Millage Rate Hearing 1 at 11 a.m. | June 12

• Board Millage Rate Hearing 2 at 6 p.m. | June 12

• Board Millage Rate Hearing 3 at 6 p.m. | June 20*

*A special called board meeting will follow at 6:30 p.m.

Joseph Schwartzburt is the education and workforce development reporter for the Savannah Morning News. You can reach him at JSchwartzburt@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: Savannah-Chatham schools FY 2025 budget: pre-K waitlists could grow