Berkeley County School District is getting ahead of schedule on increasing teacher salaries, all while cutting costs for local taxpayers.
BCSD board members passed a second reading of the 2024-2025 budget Monday night. The biggest highlights of the budget include plans to increase first-year teacher salaries to $52,450. This is a $7,053 increase based on the $45,397 first-year teacher salary from the past school year, and puts BCSD two years ahead of schedule in meeting the state’s goal of increasing first year teacher salaries.
This is all based on reassessment information received from Berkeley County, and can be accomplished by lowering operating millage by 9.9 mills due to the increased property values and the increased value of a mill.
“We are excited to present a balanced budget that is going to increase teachers’ salaries while also providing some tax relief to Berkeley County residents,” board member and Finance Committee Chair Michael Ramsey said. “Board members are eager to not only support our teachers and staff, but students’ families as well, and this is a budget that aligns with both the district and the state’s goals in the coming years.”
During her budget presentation to school board members, BCSD Chief Officer of Financial Services Marcie Abrahamson went over the most updated information from the state legislature and its impacts on BCSD.
The final State House budget has not been approved. The latest numbers from the state reduced the district’s budget by $919,610, but Abrahamson said the district is still able to achieve a balanced budget this year.
With the increase of local state revenues, the district is going to increase each cell on the teacher salary schedule by $5,691 to set the first-year teacher pay to $52,450, which Abrahamson said “far exceeds” the state’s goal of having a minimum first-year teacher salary at $50,000 by 2026.
Separately, all eligible employees received a three-percent increase in April and will receive an additional one percent on July 1. Eligible employees will also receive the standard STEP increase for an additional year of experience, resulting in an additional 1 to 2 percent increase.
The district is doing all of this while decreasing the current operating millage of 151.8 to 141.9 percent, which will result in some relief to taxpayers.
A millage rate is the tax rate set by a jurisdiction; a mill rate represents the amount of property tax paid on real estate. A mill is equivalent to one-tenth of a percent. Berkeley County reassesses property values every five years by law; fiscal year 2024-2025 is a reassessment year and values have increased and millage subsequently has to be adjusted. Lower millage and higher property values will increase local revenues by $43.5 million.
The second reading passed following a mandatory public hearing on the budget Monday night. In addition to the aforementioned information, the board approved a budget amendment to merge J.K. Gourdin Elementary with St. Stephen Elementary in August 2024. The approximate $1.5 million in savings will be used to support rural school initiatives.
Any revisions to the state’s budget that may impact BCSD will be brought back in July as a budget amendment, and instructional school budgets will be prioritized if additional funds become available.