Savannah school district’s health insurance costs to increase by $10.4 million in 2025
For Fiscal Year (FY) 2024, the Savannah-Chatham County Public School System (SCCPSS) employee health insurance costs rose above $70.2 million, of which $28.8 million was covered by the district.
For FY 2025, the district's share is expected to increase to nearly more than $34.5 million, or 43% of the total, as the cost burden of state mandates continues a shift to local districts. The bracing news was delivered at Wednesday's Financial Advisory Committee meeting by SCCPSS Budget Director Paige Cooley
The state funds a portion of those insurance costs, but the district makes up the difference for non-certified employees as well as certified employees beyond the 2,185 who are state-funded.
Cooley also calculated a proposed FY 2025 Cost-of-Living Adjustment (COLA) at 5.5% for all personnel would add roughly another $15.9 million to the budget.
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Literacy: Another unfunded state mandate
The state’s mandate for Georgia school districts to cover certain healthcare costs are not the only unfunded mandates that state legislators have passed in recent years.
Unfunded or partially funded state mandates for education are not uncommon. Another recent state mandate that has required a large financial investment from SCCPSS was the March 2023 passage by the state legislature of House Bill 538 or the Georgia Early Literacy Act.
The act required that "each public school and local school system shall provide instructional support for kindergarten through third grade teachers that shall include: (i) Onsite teacher training on the science of reading, structured literacy, foundational literacy skills, and evidence based decision making."
It also required that "local boards of education...approve high-quality instructional materials for students in kindergarten through third grade and to administer universal reading screeners multiple times each school year to students in kindergarten through third grade," Both requirements are to be covered by the local districts.
During the SCCPSS school board’s September 2023 meeting, members approved the $2.7 million purchase of the Language Essentials for Teachers of Reading (LETRS) training suite. More than 1,100 kindergarten through third grade teachers have been undergoing the training since January.
During the board's February meeting, members approved the $20 million, six-year adoption of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt’s Into Reading (K-5) and Into Literature (6-12) as the districtwide Tier I Reading/English Language Arts (ELA) textbook, as well as Waggle (K-8) and Writeable (3-12).
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American Rescue Plan funds and Fund Balance surplus
The financial advisory committee also reviewed the American Recovery Programs Grant Budget Transition report and the General Fund Balance update provided by Chief Financial Officer Larry Jackson.
The 2021-25 ARP Grant Budget Transition gives an itemized look at how the district has and will continue to cover certain expenses or sunset them as ARP funding runs out.
The general fund update provided insight into the district's options for how to assign funds "should the Unassigned Total Fund Balance of the General Fund exceed five months of budgeted expenditures."
Jackson said that options could be to:
Use excess funds for one-time expenditures that are non-recurring in nature and that will not require additional future expense outlays for maintenance, additional staffing or other recurring expenditures; or
Consider transferring excess funds to a separate Capital Accumulation Fund (Committed Fund Balance); or
Return excess funds to the Unallocated General Fund
The general fund currently exceeds three months of budgeted expenditures. Jackson said, "As a district we try to keep at least three months. That's always been our goal." That goal for this year is roughly $141 million, Jackson said. The current fund balance is a difference of $58 million.
To reach the desired three months worth of budgeted expenditures, Jackson provided some potential uses for the surplus funds to balance the general fund. Those potential uses were not approved administration suggestions, rather options for consideration, including:
Technology Equipment Replacement & Repairs
Facilities Maintenance & Operations
Capital Projects Deferred Maintenance
Long Range Facilities Plan - Phase II
FY25 & Beyond Use of Fund Balance
West Chatham Land Purchase & Development
District 7 Board Representative Michael Johnson was glad to see the land purchase mention for West Chatham. "We're about a decade behind on that one," he said.
He acknowledged that the district has been speaking to a Realtor. "We don't know the exact budget for that but...I just would like the public and staff to know that [the land] needs to be a priority because we might not be able to build a school tomorrow, but at least if we had the land to be able to build a school, that would definitely help to relieve some of...the issues that we've had with overpopulating other schools because of the expansive growth that is out there and the Pooler area."
Superintendent Denise Watts, Ed. D., responded to Johnson's note by advising that a contracted enrollment study is forthcoming. She stated that she had read a draft of the study on Tuesday. "Western Chatham County will definitely continue to grow. The entire Savannah-Chatham area is predicted to grow way faster than the state, and there are parts of the city that will grow faster than others."
She recommended the enrollment study help the district pinpoint the pockets of growth and allow the district to plan accordingly.
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 school system's healthcare cost to rise by $10m in 2025
