The Aiken County School Board approved a tentative budget for 2015-16 after adding two recurring and two one-time items at a cost of more than $150,000 at its regular meeting Tuesday.
The Board approved $47,500 in recurring money to hire one electrician for the maintenance department by a vote of five to four.
Having the additional electrician on staff will save the District the cost of contracting the work out. Using the District's current electrician has saved the District more than $130,000, said Andrew Cox, executive director of Technology Services.
"We will have to pay higher rates for contractors, or we will have to do the projects slower," said David Caver, deputy superintendent.
The Board approved recurring money to provide equivalent funds to schools for unused athletic supplements. For example, if the District budgets a $1,500 supplement for a soccer coach at each of the district's seven high schools but not all of the schools have soccer programs, the schools that do not offer the sport would receive $1,500 to use as needed in their athletic programs.
The Board also approved:
- $100,000 in one-time money for bands
- $8,375 in one-time money to provide materials for testing in the adult education program
Before the addition of the four new items, the tentative budget for the District's Fund 1, which includes operations expenses such as salaries, fringe benefits and supplies, totaled $175,987,485. Also, before the new items were added, the estimated available funds for additions to the budget totaled $1.1 million. The additions should bring estimated available funds for any other items to be included in next year's budget to just under $1 million.
Since budget discussions began, the Board has approved additions to the budget, including:
- A 1 percent cost-of-living raise for all District employees at a cost of $1.7 million
- Funds to include full-time assistant principals at all middle schools, regardless of size, for a cost of $88,100
- Money to staff all elementary schools, regardless of size, with a minimum of one full-time assistant principal for a cost of $344,142
- Funds for a Freshman Academy at South Aiken High at a cost of $195,000
- Funding for a science, technology, engineering and math program at Jackson Middle and a science, technology, engineering, arts and math program at New Ellenton Middle for $323,600, including $118,600 for one-time costs.
The final budget will be presented June 23.
Caver reported that construction of the new science and technology wing at North Augusta High "came in on time and under budget." The building will be dedicated at 6 p.m. June 18.
Before the meeting, the Board recognized student athletes from the District's middle schools for their achievements. Photos can be found at aikenstandard.com.
An Aiken native, Larry Wood is a general assignment reporter. He started at the Aiken Standard in September 2014.