The Indian River Board of Education signs off on a preliminary budget with a modest increase in revenue and spending.
The budget is expected to grow by just over 3%, says the district’s Finance Director Christopher Parker.
“We're going from $237.9 million last year to $246 this year, an increase of about $6.6 or 3%,” he told board members.
While the proposed budget contains modest increases to things like curriculum and athletics, much of the budget increase comes from increases to teacher salaries, with funding for those coming from increased state money.
The district will also need to increase its funding for substitute teachers, Parker said. That comes as an effect of the state’s Paid Family and Medical Leave law, the “Healthy Delaware Families Act,” which fully went into effect in January.
“As the year went on, people started to figure out how the program worked and just based on that, more and more people signing up and we need more and more substitutes as they're able to utilize that process,” Parker explained. “So that's why we want to anticipate that for the next year.”
Parker also notes that state money based on the district’s unit count will be down slightly in the coming budget year, a function of a slight downturn in enrollment. However, that doesn’t seem to be an issue unique to IRSD, he said, citing discussions with school district administrators around the state.
“We're not all sure why that is, but my guess is it has something to do with all the charter and private schools that are, throughout the state, pulling from each of the public schools,” Parker suggested.
Even with the slight decrease in the district’s unit count - from just over 886 units to 882 - Parker told board members there was no cause for concern.
“We will get the money guaranteed to us at the 882 [unit] mark, even if we're below that,” he said. “If we go above it, we'll get more. Obviously, the state will give us whatever we earn.”
Board of Education members unanimously approved the preliminary budget.
Also at last week’s meeting, board members learned that they would be going at least another month with a vacancy in their ranks.
The open seat, in the Georgetown-area District 1, arose when board member Kelly Kline moved out of the district, making her ineligible to continue serving. The district opened up applications for a month, but as Superintendent Jay Owens explained to board members, they didn’t get any takers.
“We did not have any submitted applications during that time frame,” Owens said. “Per the policy, per code, we will continue to advertise over the course of the next month, see if we get some applicants that we can bring before the board. After that, we'll need to make some decisions whether we continue on the process.”
If the board finds a successful applicant, that person would serve through June 30, 2027, about halfway through Kline’s original term. After that, the seat would be filled by an election.
Indian River isn’t the only school district to struggle with finding replacements for board members who have stepped down. The nearby Delmar School District has failed twice in the last two months to settle on a new member of its Board of Education after board members continued to deadlock over candidates.
