The Carroll County Board of Education approved an operational budget for the 2024-2025 school year during its April 15 meeting in the Governmental Complex and later presented it to the Board of Supervisors for consideration.
The State’s school funding calculation, or The Composite Index, had a major impact on this year’s proposal. Carroll County Public Schools is seeking an additional $1.586 million, with one million of that required from local funding by the State to qualify for matching funds.
According to information provided by the CCPS, the total proposed school operating revenue for 2024-2025 will be $56,934,705 (The 2023-2024 budget operational expenditures were $66,453,660). The projected state proposed revenue is $37,588,591, an increase of $4,632,134 with Federal proposed revenue at $6,325,254, a decrease of $15,773,601. Proposed county funding is $11,986,692 or an increase of $1,586,692. Operational budgets for food service, debt service and textbooks were also approved at the April 15 board meeting.
The remaining amount is similar to last year’s request, which sought $500,000 over the required minimal funding effort. By the school system’s calculations, meeting the mandated requirement means for every dollar spent by the county, four dollars are matched from State funding.
“Our 2024-2025 Operational Budget....our goals will remain the same as in previous years. We did add some capital improvements necessary to keep the school community facilities in good condition and accommodate new and existing development by preserving, modifying or replacing existing infrastructure using sound fiscal practices. In other words, we pay for our construction with State Construction funds and ESSER funds. There’s no extra cost to the taxpayers of Carroll County,” said Burnette at an April 9 budget presentation. “Our challenges....we’ve had a large increase in social, emotional issues, and student mental health issues.”
He explained at the earlier meeting the division has also had an increase in special needs students over the past ten years (from 17.5 percent in 2015-2016 to 20.5 percent or roughly one out of every five students in the school system). Burnette also cited increases in consumables, such as fuel, heating oil and electricity, a shrinking workforce and increased wages in the community resulting in higher labor cost. Information from the Virginia Department of Taxation indicated the Composite Index for 2024-2026 showed a 25 percent increase in the true value of real property, a 14 percent increase in adjusted gross income, and a 22 percent increase in taxable retail sales (It was noted the poverty level in Carroll is unchanged). This increased the local index from 0.2696 to 0.2804.
David Broyles may be reached at 276-779-4013 or on “X” at CarrollNewsDave
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