Bibb school board presses district officials on $23M deficit ahead of budget vote

The Bibb County Board of Education will look at potential cuts to reduce a deficit that threatens to deplete the school district’s coffers ahead of its June 2 preliminary budget adoption.

Board members were scheduled to vote on the budget May 14 but instead decided to take more time to look at the proposed budget, which would incur a $23 million deficit.

District administrators received more than 50 questions from school board members in the days prior to that meeting, encompassing everything from rezoning and operational efficiency studies to individual line items.

More than a dozen questions about an efficiency study by consultants at Lean Frog were left unanswered, as district staffers said the study results will be shared soon. The district aims to implement those items by the upcoming school year, officials said.

Lean Frog consultants told board members in March the district needs to modernize its technology and workflow processes across several departments in preparation for increased pupil costs and more retirees.

When asked about completing the budget before carrying out those recommendations, district leaders noted the need to implement a budget on or before June 30. If no budget is adopted by then, the board will have to pass a monthly spending resolution.

District administrators also noted the school system would save more than $1 million per elementary school closed and their reasoning for considering a tax increase.

“We are at a critical point in time which has created financial stress within the district, where not considering a millage rate increase would show a gross lack of fiscal management and responsibility,” district officials wrote. 

The board met May 21 to dig deeper into ways the school district can get out of its budget deficit, and financial staff presented a handful of measures which could get them out of the hole.

Those adjustments include the elimination of vacant positions, central office furloughs, implementation of a class size waiver, outsourcing paraprofessional hires and department-level reductions.

Making all of those moves would amount to $11.4 million in cuts. Of that, outsourcing 80 paraprofessional hires would reduce $2.3 million in retirement and health insurance costs. Adopting the waiver would increase kindergarten through fourth grade class sizes by two students but would also bring in $3.8 million in revenue.

“We were already there last year,” district Chief Financial Officer Eric Bush said of the waivers. “It’s not making a significant change.”

The board’s general fund could be drained by 2028 without any action. Superintendent Dan Sims acknowledged the district’s need for action to remedy its financial situation but said it will remain committed to its students through the process.

“We committed to making decisions through a strategic and transparent process rather than implementing across-the-board cuts,” Sims told board members.

Board President Daryl Morton said “business as usual is not sustainable.” It’s “incumbent” on the board to demonstrate they are working toward a balanced budget, he said.

“A lot of this doesn’t happen overnight,” Morton said.

The board will vote June 2 on its initial version of the budget. The board will have to hold two public hearings before it is able to approve the budget.