FLORENCE, S.C.(WBTW) – The Florence School District One Board of Trustees unanimously approved a first reading of the new fiscal year’s budget Thursday, following a public hearing of the plan.
Recommendations for what should be included and dropped from the budget were made from principals, department heads and others at a budget retreat in late April.
The final plan includes a 2% raise in teacher salaries, surely welcome news as the current school year draws to a close.
Maintenance workers working for the school district are also set to get a raise this coming year. The raises are partially possible thanks to a motion to use flex funding to move monies from other parts of the budget into the general fund.
The budget will also approve some reorganization of teachers and administrators among elementary schools. During the budget retreat earlier this year several teachers asked for more teachers or more administrators, to keep both from being overworked. The district agreed to convert four of the eight elementary school curriculum coordinators into assistant principals.
Superintendent Dr. Randy Bridges says he’s pleased with both the community’s efforts and the budget they’ve created as a result.
“We’re able to do some internal things with some positions and with some internal pieces that we’ve neglected for a number of years,” Bridges said. “We’re excited about that.”
Bridges says the new budget, which is projected to create over $141 million in revenue, should be approved by the Board of Trustees in a final reading next week.
