School budget for next year gets board

Following its move last month to roll back the special levy rate and tap its capital fund, the Morgan County School Board unanimously approved a $21.4 million budget for the next school year, up $1.5 million over last year.

The budget received no public comment at the May 1 hearing.

Despite the decision to cut its own tax revenue, the new budget includes a 1.5% raise for all school employees and increases for transportation costs and per-student allocations.

According to figures provided by School Treasurer Nancy White, spending on salaries, benefits, maintenance, supplies, utilities, textbooks, vehicles and property liability will all rise in the coming year. Only expenditures on technology supplies will decrease after a heavy jump last year.

Salaries and benefits account for the largest chunk of the school system's expenses for 2007-2008, adding up to $12.36 million, or 78% of the total budget.

Of the total salary budget, 65% goes to teachers, 15.9% to administrators, 8.7% to bus drivers/mechanics and 5.4% to maintenance and custodial personnel.

Coming far behind are spending items for utilities (3.1%), contracted services (3.9%), administrative expenses (3.7%), instructional materials (2%) and vehicle costs (1.4%).

School maintenance projects

Maintaining and operating the county's school buildings will cost roughly $520,000 (or 2.4% of the budget) for the coming year.

Planned building upgrades, paid for out of the school's capital fund, include roof replacements at Greenwood Elementary, Pleasant View Elementary and the central bus garage; window replacement on the Berkeley Springs High School campus; a ventilation system at Paw Paw High School and safety and security improvements at schools county-wide.