PRELIMINARY INFORMATION (BUDGET-BUILDING STILL IN PROGRESS) WINSTON-SALEM/FORSYTH COUNTY SCHOOLS BUDGET 1

OVERVIEW 2 We are facing some unusual and large state spending mandates We have to be prepared for additional state cuts Some additional County funding has been promised Some additional local priorities will require refocusing of resources We will need to budget some additional local fund balance We will need to continue looking for budget efficiencies in coming years to reduce reliance on fund balance

WHAT WE DON’T KNOW YET No State Planning Allotment at this time No firm information about the General Assembly’s budget No firm information about the County’s budget No Federal Planning Allotment at this time 3

WHAT WE ARE ASSUMING That beginning teacher salaries will increase from $33,000 to $35,000 (huge budget impact to us) That other legislated pay and benefits rate increases will be little or none That the General Assembly will fund dollars for enrollment increases (huge impact if they do not) That the General Assembly will cut some public school funding (at a minimum some additional teacher assistant funding) to help pay for the teacher pay increases and enrollment increase funding 4

LOCAL BUDGET PRIORITIES Relieve middle and high school curriculum coordinators of some/most testing duties Provide better technology support to all schools Continue emphasis on reading competency by 3 rd grade Provide additional and better teacher training 5

LOCAL BUDGET STARTING POINT Known and assumed state mandates and unavoidable budget cost increases would require this amount of new funding $3,735,000 Additionally, we budgeted to spend $4.7 million in local fund balance in , and the number above would be in addition to the starting point – to avoid spending fund balance we would need over $8.4 million of cuts or new funding 6

KNOWN BUDGET REDUCTIONS Of the $4.7 million in fund balance budgeted this year, $2.0 million was for one-time technology purchases Thus far in the budget process we have identified $740,000 in additional budget reductions that will not be needed for These reduce our budget starting point to approximately $5.7 million of needed funding additions, budget cuts, and/or fund balance appropriation 7

NEW BUDGET INITIATIVES 8 Our new budget priorities for include:  Clerical testing positions at middle and high schools to free up curriculum coordinators to spend full time on their curriculum and instruction duties  More central technology support for middle and high schools (elementary schools received a half-time position per school with additional training this year)  Continue the half-time reading specialists in the elementary schools focused on student reading competency by third grade

COST OF BUDGET PRIORITIES We are still working on the total local cost of our budget priorities We are still working on ways to reduce current costs We are hoping for news on planning allotments soon We are monitoring budget progress in the General Assembly, but do not expect any real valuable information until June or later The County funding should be known by early June, and we might have a good feel for the amount a month or so earlier 9

WHAT SHOULD BE EXPECTED? That we will recommend some additional local spending toward our budget priorities That we will recommend some additional efficiencies and cost reductions to help fund those priorities That we will need to budget at least a third of our anticipated $11 million in local fund balance That we will need to identify reduction contingencies for the possibility of significant funding cuts from the General Assembly That we will need to continue to look for efficiencies in future years to reduce reliance on fund balance 10

REMAINING BUDGET SCHEDULE 11 We will have a Finance Committee meeting on the afternoon of April 28, with a budget amendment and transfer to discuss, plus additional budget discussion We will ask for Preliminary Budget Resolution approval at the April 28 Board meeting, preceded by a Discussion Item at that meeting We make our budget presentation to the County Commissioners on the afternoon of May 7