Clarksville-Montgomery Co. school budget includes raises, new positions, capital projects

The proposed budget for the Clarksville-Montgomery County 2024-25 school year includes raises for teachers, capital projects and new positions.

During the April 9 Clarksville-Montgomery County School Board study session, the school board heard the first reading of the proposed budget for the 2024-25 school year. The proposed budget for the district, around $444 million in expenses, includes raises for teachers, increasing starting pay for bus drivers and key projects in various schools the district will be working on throughout the year.

CMCSS' budget has a revenue of about $404 million, and although most of it is coming from the State of Tennessee, CMCSS is asking for an increase in allotted funds from the county property tax.

CMCSS is requesting an increase in the district's allocation of property tax revenue by $4.8 million.

The proposed budget has $6.6 million in local revenue, including the proposed $4.8 increase in allotted funds to be received by property taxes and $1.8 increase in local sales taxes.

"This is the first increase that we've asked of you," CMCSS financial officer Christopher Reneau said during his presentation. "If you do the cost average over 16 years that is less than a 1% increase per year."

ESSER funds expiring

ESSER funds, or Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund, were provided by the federal government for school districts to provide relief for plans for education recovery due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

In the district's ESSER 3.0 plan, almost $6 million in academics such as summer school and interventionists, over $2 million was used to pay for educators in the district and over $1 million was used for student readiness.

From substitutes, nurses and tutors to mental health and summer school, for the past several years, ESSER funds were used throughout the district to help provide education and resources to students.

With ESSER funds expiring, the district changed some of those staff positions to permanent positions, including the eight floating nurses and eight special education (SPED) teachers, as permanent in the yearly budget without causing too much of a deficit for the district.

Planning ahead of time, adding these new positions was something CMCSS is prepared for according to Christopher Reneau Chief Financial Officer for CMCSS as he started his presentation.

"It's been published that 62% of the districts in the state of Tennessee are facing a fiscal cliff. And what's driving that cliff was the introduction of ESSER funds," said Reneau. "As we get started, I just wanted to note that we don't have that problem, we've been planning accordingly. And so there's there's zero concerns with the district funding with the removal of ESSER funding."

District staff pay increase

The budget has set aside over $160 million to pay teachers, and, if passed, teachers and district employees could get a 5% cost of living adjustment raise.

If passed, CMCSS teachers would have seen a 22.5% increase in wages in the past 24 months, putting CMCSS two years ahead of Gov. Bill Lee's plan to have starting teachers making $50,000 by 2027.

District employees will also see a 2% raise and special population teachers will see an additional $5,000 differentiated pay. The beginning pay for bus drivers will also increase to $21 an hour, an increase from two years ago when it was $16.

"I'm very excited about that," said Reneau. "And I think it does well by our team members and we're heading in the right direction."

Capital projects

The proposed budget set aside $12.8, or $9.8 million for capital projects in schools, with the biggest expenses being roofing, HVAC and paving.

"Miraculously, it only took me three years, but I realized that we have a paving department in Montgomery County," said Reneau with a laugh.

If Montgomery County School and Montgomery County's paving department can work something out, the capital budget would be $9.8 million.

As far as roofing and HVAC, the district has listed the six schools with those capital projects: East Montgomery Elementary, Ringgold Elementary, St. Bethlehem Early Learning Center, Moore Elementary, Glenellen Elementary and Northeast Elementary.

With a new Kirkwood Elementary School opening in the fall, the board has set aside $2.2 million to fund teachers and staff for the school's operations.

This includes the opening cost of the school and positions from counselors to cafeteria staff and maintenance like utilities and technology and all in between.

Other projects included different sections of the district's budget such as buses changing its radio and frequency stations so there aren't dead zones, Wi-Fi and hot spots and an additional copier for every middle and high school.

"So if anyone (teacher or staff member) is listening, we heard you," Reneau said.

Kenya Anderson is a reporter for The Leaf-Chronicle. She can be contacted at kanderson@gannett.com or on X at kenyaanderson32. Sign up for the Leaf-Chronicle to support local journalism at www.theleafchronicle.com.

This article originally appeared on Clarksville Leaf-Chronicle: Montgomery Co. school budget includes raises, capital, new positions