Bibb school board adopts budget without superintendent’s requests

Board members voted almost unanimously Friday morning to adopt a slimmer 2026 budget without the superintendent’s recommendation for a truancy consultant and elementary literacy director.

The budget will have the district operating at a $20.8 million deficit, which can be abated by additional state funding or raising property taxes.

The budget included a 3% raise for teachers, a decreased number of vacant jobs and a new classified salary schedule. The raise and new salary schedule are intended to keep the district’s wages more competitive.

Since the board failed to pass a tentative budget at its May 15 meeting, the school district has found an additional $973,520 in savings between teacher salaries and operating expenses.

The school district and CFO Eric Bush presented this reduction along with three options for the tentative budget:

• Option A: Included the 3% raise, new salary schedule and decreased vacant positions. This option included hiring a truancy specialist and K-5 ELA school improvement coordinator. This option also included raises and new titles for the district’s director of elementary services, maintenance director, accounting clerk and student information system manager. 
• Option B: Included everything in option A except for the title reclassifications.
• Option C: Included everything in option B except for the truancy specialist and K-5 ELA coordinator.

The board was locked in a 4-4 vote when it came to options A and B. The vote fell along similar lines to the original budget vote earlier this month, with board members Myrtice Johnson, Kristin Hanlon, Lisa Garrett-Boyd and James Freeman voting in favor and Henry Ficklin, Daryl Morton, Sundra Woodford and Barney Hester voting against the budget.

The board passed option C by a vote of 7-1, with Garrett-Boyd as the lone dissenter. 

Prior to the vote, Garrett-Boyd said while the district has an English language arts director for grades 6-12, no such position exists for kindergarten through fifth grade, when “the true battle to read begins.”

“The addition of that curriculum director would handle that duty and should not be a new position,” she said. “It should be a mandatory position.”

Sims told board members the reductions being made by the district “far outweigh” the requests. The additions the board ultimately voted to forego amounted to $316,804.

Sims said the two positions are “modest but meaningful asks,” and address two of the biggest issues of the district: absenteeism and literacy.

Hanlon said the board should not tank the budget over $300,000.

“We are asking for less money, not new money,” Sims said.

Morton said he did not think it was good fiscal policy to increase spending solely because of found savings. 

Hester and Woodford said they wanted to see budget increases that were reflected in the classroom rather than in central office positions.

“As a person who looks at the bottom line, even grandmama knows that she can’t go to the store and buy what she don’t have money (for),” Ficklin said.

Despite his reservations, Morton said he voted in favor of the third budget presented because it showed that the board and the district values its teachers and other employees.

“I worry about some of the financial implications moving forward because of additional fixed costs,” he said. “But I’ve heard repeatedly from Dr. Sims and his staff that we need to be able to attract and retain teachers.”

Property tax discussions will begin at future meetings when tax data becomes available to the board. 

The board will hold the first of two public input meetings to discuss the budget on June 10.