By: Jeremy Handel, Staff Writer | jeremy@thewoodrufftimes.com
The Spartanburg County School District Four Board of Trustees gave final approval to a proposed $34.2 million general fund budget for the 2024-2025 fiscal year, a nearly 10 percent increase over last year. They also approved budgets for R.D. Anderson, McCarthy-Teszler, and the alternative school, as well as a state contract for new computer workstations for the CATE lab at Woodruff High School.
Assistant Superintendent of Business and Finance Chris Benfield informed the Board that the proposed budget had not changed since the first presentation at the previous meeting. The proposed budget was based upon a proposed state budget that had not been passed at the time of the meeting and included a caveat to the vote as such.
According to Benfield, the budget increase is primarily due to increases in salaries and benefits for faculty and staff. The state increased all teacher pay scales. The budget also included at least a 4 percent increase for all non-teacher employees.
The budgets for shared schools R.D. Anderson, McCarthy-Teszler, and the alternative school all had similar increases in salaries and benefits. The Board unanimously approved all four budgets.
Superintendent Dr. Aaron Fulmer then presented a request to approve a state contract bid of approximately $53,000 with Y&S Technologies for the purchase of new Lenovo workstations for the Career and Technical Education (CATE) lab at the high school.
Dr. Fulmer said the funds for the purchase would come from a CATE grant from both federal and state funds. The Board needed to approve the allocation of the grant for the purchase, which they did unanimously.
The School Board meets on the first Monday of each month at 6 p.m. at the district office. The meetings are open to the public, and the next meeting will be held on August 5.
Author: Tracy Sanders
