Short $15.8 million, Rock Hill School District searches for ways to balance budget
Facing a $15 million budget short fall for the coming school year, the Rock Hill School District mulled ways to address it.
Board members avoided talk of layoffs during a special meeting on Wednesday, instead suggesting ways to move money, increase taxes or make other cuts to cover the cost.
The board voted unanimously in January to launch an independent financial analysis. Wednesday’s meeting explored those findings.
“You do have a problem,” said Harry Miley, a former chief financial officer in Richland School District 2 who conducted the analysis. “It’s an addressable problem. It happens to many districts around the state.”
Tax increases, capital funds could help Rock Hill’s budget shortfall
Miley made broad recommendations on how the district could climb out of its financial hole, which he said was “solvable” and “not the end of the world.”
Interim Superintendent John Jones should discuss the budget with his senior team before making any decisions that could have a monetary impact, Miley said. New positions should not be added without the knowledge and approval of his finance team, either.
Jones will bring a plan to the board to solve the shortfall, and the board will vote on whether to approve the plan. He stepped into the temporary leadership role after former Superintendent Tommy Schmolze announced his mid-year resignation in January.
Board member Montrio Belton was skeptical of cuts and floated several alternative options.
Belton suggested the district could explore a millage increase, which would require voter approval to increase the property tax rate for people who reside in its boundaries. Rock Hill School District could generate about $3.2 million this way, according to Chief Financial Officer Terri Smith.
Belton also said the district could move an unallocated $7 million from its capital fund back to the general fund, although he said that was not recurring money and would only help the financial situation for one year. The capital fund pays for facility upgrades and maintenance.
There could be other ways to address the shortfall, Smith said, but they “would be very small.”
Despite its tricky financial situation heading into next school year, Belton said he wanted to clarify for his constituents that the district is still on solid footing.
“Rock Hill schools is not broke. We are not without cash. We are a functional, solvent school district,” Belton said. “Now, we can make some arguments on whether or not we should (have) made some of the financial decisions we’ve made.”
Why does Rock Hill School District have a budget shortfall?
The full budget for the 2024-25 school year gave the district $239 million to work with.
The district used nonrecurring and one-time revenues to balance that budget, Miley said. That means Rock Hill has to figure out how to make ends meet moving forward without relying on money that’s either no longer there or will expire.
In the last four years, the district added 174 full time employee positions despite declining enrollment. The board voted last year on “substantial salary adjustments” for classroom teachers that added millions in recurring costs, Miley said. Starting teacher salary is now $52,000, and the average teacher salary increased by more than $8,000, according to the district.
The district also used Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief money, which was a one-time federal grant to address the impact of COVID-19 on schools, to fund more than 80 positions.
“They’re great. They do a great deal for the district,” Miley said of ESSER grants. “The problem is when the grant stops … when that funding goes away, you either let that employee or employees leave, or you find other funding to keep them.”
Relying on nonrecurring revenue for recurring expenses like employee positions isn’t against the law or district procedure, Miley said, but it’s not sustainable.
Board members Helena Miller and Pete Nosal stood behind their decision to bump teacher pay even though it required the use of one-time money and would contribute to a shortfall. Miller and Nosal are two of the three remaining board members who voted for the raise.
“We knew we had this problem when we approved the last budget, and I will never apologize for approving that budget because our teachers deserve to be paid,” Nosal said. “We need to have the highest paid teachers in the state of South Carolina.”
This story was originally published March 20, 2025 at 1:15 PM.
