Rock Hill schools propose spending more for transportation, new hires

School district leaders propose spending $200,000 for bus transportation to choice schools and additional teaching positions for growth, choice programs and for those students who need extra help.

The preliminary spending proposals were among budget details presented to Rock Hill school board members Monday, during a workshop on the 2016-17 operating budget.

Two community presentations are being planned in Rock Hill this week where citizens can learn about the budget proposals. They will be at 6 p.m. Tuesday at Sunset Park Center for Accelerated Studies, 1036 Ogden Road, and 6 p.m. Thursday at The Cotton Factory, 129 Hardin St.

District leaders say budget numbers won’t be complete until the General Assembly approves school revenue. But Elaine Bilton, chief financial officer, said leaders expect more revenue.

Bilton said district leaders are not proposing a property tax increase. “We hope that we will have enough revenue” to avoid a tax increase, she said.

Superintendent Kelly Pew has pledged to provide school bus transportation beginning next fall for all students who want to attend school-choice programs, so more students can take advantage of them. The district has estimated that cost at $200,000.

Bilton said the district also is proposing staff increases in several areas. She said exactly how many positions can be added depends on the final revenue picture.

Specific proposed new positions, and the budget estimates for each, are:

▪ $455,000 for seven new positions if needed for growth;

▪ $95,000 for a special education teacher and assistant to add a class at Belleview Elementary;

▪ $32,500 for a part-time language immersion lead teacher;

▪ $65,000 for a lead teacher for a science, technology, engineering, arts and math program, known as STEAM;

▪ $65,000 for a Montessori and Inquiry program lead teacher; and

▪ $90,000 for three contracted help desk postions for the student laptop initiative.

Bilton said the district also wants to add teaching interventionists at elementary schools, to work with students who need more help, at $65,000 each; reading support teachers at middle schools, also at $65,000 each; and a district-level technology specialist to work with secondary teachers, at $90,000.

She said the district would like to hire as many teaching interventionists and reading support teachers as the budget will allow. Those teachers would pull students out of classes to work with them.

Bilton said district leaders want to restore a 5 percent cut made during the recession to teaching supplements for athletics, yearbook advisers and other roles that receive paid supplements, at a cost of $80,000. They also want to create a $1,000 supplement for a webmaster to maintain the web site at each school, she said.

Board member Walter Brown called the list of budget proposals “a wish list,” saying leaders won’t know for sure what they can do until they have a clear revenue picture. “But it looks pretty promising this year,” he said.

Bilton said the state’s expected base student cost for next year, the amount districts receive per student, is $2,350, up from $2,172 in the current year. She said the fully funded cost is $2,900.

Other proposed changes include $250,000 more for substitute teachers; $100,000 less for homebound students, because of a greater use of technology; an additional $5 per student allocation to each school, or $90,000, which was cut during the recession; and $75,000 more for high school athletics to create equity among the schools.

This story was originally published April 25, 2016 at 5:55 PM with the headline "Rock Hill schools propose spending more for transportation, new hires."