A reader recently noted that our Fayette County Board of Education was going to spend over $450 million dollars as part of the FY 2025 budget. While the total receipts are planned to be almost $458 million when including carry over balances, the expected “general fund” expenditure is approximately $278 million.
To be clear, of the $458 million expended by the FCBOE, 60.7% is actually spent educating Fayette’s children. When you add the special revenue fund which is another thirty million which pays for special program such as nutritional programs and “Title 1 funding,” we almost get to seventy percent.
The remaining key spending buckets include debt service ($6.8 million), capital projects ($60.4 million), and internal service fund/Workman’s comp ($1.8 million).
First, it is important to note that governmental accounting is different than generally accepted accounting principles. “Funds” are used in governmental accounting, so that if money is left in a fund, it is carried over. This is like the “envelope method” some use in their personal finances.
For example, the “general fund” was expected to have a reserve of $23.8 million at the end of FY 24 and is expected to be $27.8 million at the end of FY 25. While our reserve is expected to grow four million dollars, its important to note that the administration chose to reduce seventy school-based positions in the same fiscal year.
Next, the capital project fund was expected to be $59.8 million at the end of fiscal 2024 and is projected to be $42.4 million at the end of the next fiscal year. These funds are restricted ESPLOST funds and cannot be used for classroom educational expenses.
However, while I am relieved that each high school will soon have its own tennis courts, it’s reasonable to wonder if any consideration is being given to stretch the reserves and delay another ESPLOST.
When I started studying educational costs in 2007, Fayette had no ESPLOST and no reserve. In the early 2020s, the State of Georgia recommended that FCBOE maintain a 10% reserve, which they did in one fell swoop by closing four schools and reducing teachers and parapros.
Since then, our bank balance has grown, even though our school resources (teachers/ parapros) have become less.
As our budget grows in dollars driven by ever rising salary and benefits costs, the question should be whether it is wise to continue making the reserve grow endlessly with the budget.
Reasonable people may wonder if they would rather keep their money instead of sending it to an FCBOE bank account. Others may wonder if it is better to fund our classrooms than grow our FCBOE cash reserve.
It’s important to note that this issue is not isolated to Fayette County. In neighboring Coweta County, their general fund budget is approximately $299 million with $43 million expected to be in reserve. Alternatively, Clayton County expects to spend over $675 million on a school system with more pupils than Fayette and Coweta combined. For information and just as concerning, the Clayton school budget does not demonstrate any projected reserve.
Looking back at Fayette, the 2015 financial statements show that we spent approximately $222 million with another $75 million in reserves, both operating and capital (ESPLOST) for a total combined spend of almost $300 million.
Ten years later, our budgeted spending plan is more than fifty percent larger, while our student population is nearly the same, with 20,042 in 2015 and 20,063 in 2023.
Meanwhile, our class sizes are larger, and our school resources are less. As we evaluate school board candidates this fall, we need to find a plan to support our students and teachers in the classroom within the constraints of the revenue restriction voted by the taxpayers.
[Neil Sullivan is a finance/accounting executive and CPA. He has lived in Peachtree City over 20 years with his wife Jennifer, a Fayette County History teacher and son Jackson, a student at Erskine College. He has been active in public school related issues in Fayette County, leading three E-SPLOST initiatives as chairman of Fayette Citizens for Children. He has appeared previously on these pages in letters to the editor.]
Thank you, Neil, for sharing some background information on the FCBOE budget. It is no surprise that our operating costs have risen dramatically over the past ten years despite a fairly steady student population. Inflation is the culprit. That being said, it is right for all of us to scrutinize FCBOE’s budget. If the state of Georgia recommends a 10% reserve then it’s only reasonable that reserve will grow along with the budget. How is this money being invested? Who is responsible for making those investment choices?
What do you expect? According to gplanman GA is a low tax, low service “stupid” state. Wonder why he chooses to stay . . . . . . .
That being said, y’all are responsible for scrutinizing how FCBOE spends it’s money. If you don’t like it, cut them off (why I will never support another ESPLOST)! Tennis Courts at each high school???? Y’all get what you vote for.
Nothing wrong with tennis courts other than they are not for public use.
and cost a bundle . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
I’ll take “low tax, no service” over “high tax, no service” FWIW.
The taxpayers in the state of Georgia fund public schools, some at the state level, some at the County level (I assume some at the Federal level as well), not sure why it’s presumably better if a higher percentage comes from the State rather than the County – there is an argument that more local control is better.
Re: senior citizens not paying their “fair share” of school taxes, these are people who don’t have kids in the schools anymore and paid these taxes for 40+ years, almost always for 20+ years when they had no kids in these schools (some never did). Perhaps they’ve already paid their “fair share” or more.
As in a lot of these discussions I notice that the question of whether the BOE needs $15k per student or whether they are spending a lot of money on bureaucracy and luxuries isn’t addressed. Ten years since 2015 with the same # of students they’re spending 50% more. I’m not convinced one way or another on this point, but that would seem to be the most important question.
Private school vouchers result in the public schools getting more money per student. Just for demonstration purposes (the precise numbers are probably different), the County plans to spend about $15k per student this year. Any student who leaves and takes a $6k voucher leaves $9k behind for the County to reallocate. If half the students took vouchers the County would have $24k per student to spend.
Did you not know how this works?
I don’t begrudge any public-school board from “hoarding” funding given that the State of Georgia has only fully funded public-school education budget 3 times since 2007. Georgia’s lives by the motto of low tax, no service; forcing Counties to pick up and provide ALL of the services that the State refuses to fund. In an attempt to force Counties to abide by Georgia’s mantra (low tax, no service), the State has restricted School Boards ability to raise funding to adequately cover the costs of public-school education. There are 2 other challenges that Counties like Fayette face, that fact that Fayette County intentionally draws senior citizens to live in Fayette County, property owners who for the most part do not pay their fair share of property tax towards the funding of public schools; and that the State if giving away private school vouchers to any Tom, Dick, or Mary. Georgia’s primary goal is to make public education in Georgia underfunded and unattractive as possible. The citizens of Fayette and Coweta County are all proud products of public education. We want the same quality of education for our children. We rely upon our local boards of education to execute this mission. This is why, we do not begrudge School Boards in hoarding cash or seeking our support for property tax increases of the application of E-SPLOTs. We wouldn’t have to do this IF the State of Georgia actually gave a rat’s ass about education in the State of Georgia.
I appreciate the breakdown of this budget. Since the FCBOE deemed it more important to keep 70 administrative positions vs “boots on the ground” teaching staff, have they changed their mission statement? Maybe instead of professing their priority is providing quality education in a cost effective way to taxpayers, it should be changed to: providing employment for Georgia residents with great benefits at a higher cost to taxpayers.