As the District 56 Board of Trustees ratified the district’s $30.6 Million budget for the next fiscal year Monday night, it also decided to sell bonds totaling $4 Million, in a process subject to state law.
The law allows school districts to incur general obligation debt in an amount not to exceed 8% of the assessed value of all taxable property in the district.
These bonds can be used to defray the cost of capital improvements, and the district’s financial advisors have told the district it can borrow the money under provisions of the South Carolina Association of Governmental Organizations. The advisors are Compass Municipal Advisors, LLC, according to the bond resolution documents totaling 14 pages.
School District 56 - Clinton, Joanna, Cross Hill - has an assessed value of taxable property that is not less than $58,538,907, the document says, and 8% of that is $4,683,112. The district has $0 in outstanding general obligation debt (designated property tax revenues pay off this debt year after year so additional money can be borrowed and repaid by the same designated revenue). The district is borrowing $4M to:
The bonds are sold at public sale after publication of a notice in a newspaper of general circulation or a financial publication in the City of New York, or both at the superintendent’s discretion (as the selling agent).
Later, the school board will determine a priority list of capital improvement projects.
Also at Monday’s regular school board meeting (there is no meeting scheduled in July), the board gave unanimous approval of a 2023/2024 budget that is $30,617,980, on the second of two required readings. This keeps the district in compliance with generally accepted procedures of having a new budget in place by July 1 of each year. School Trustees gave the budget document first reading approval last month (the board generally meets the fourth Monday of each month at the Clinton High School auditorium). The document also was reviewed in detail in a board and administration workshop meeting.
This new year’s budget is 6.7% higher than the current year’s budget - state law requires government bodies to stay within the rate of inflation (the Consumer Price Index) when determining its spending and taxes, without a referendum.
Driving the spending increase is a $2,500 pay increase for teachers, which is state-funded. Districts have to use their own money if they want to pass along salary increases for administrators and staff.
Information presented to the board indicated there is a 3.7% increase in health care premiums, 1% increase in retirement to match state funding, and 3% hike in the support staff account.
The school board also took action to keep District 56 in compliance with the state’s new Paid Parental Leave Act (effective June 26). For birth or adoption, employees are entitled to 6 weeks of paid leave and for fostering employees are entitled to 2 weeks of paid leave (primary care-giver), according to information presented to the board. Policies govern certified staff and support staff.
The next regular meetings of the District 56 Board of Trustees will be Aug. 28 and Sept. 25, 7:30 p.m. in the CHS auditorium — the first day of classes for students in the district will be August 1, with a districtwide Back to School Bash set for Saturday, July 29, 9 - 11 a.m. at Wilder Stadium (Clinton Middle School on North Adair Street).
