EDUCATION Guilford County Schools

Maurice Mo Green, Superintendent 712 North Eugene Street, Greensboro, NC 27401 336-870-8100

BUDGET SUMMARY

DEPARTMENTAL PURPOSE

Although public education is primarily a responsibility of the state, all counties are required to fund a portion of the operating and capital expenses for local public school systems. Most counties, including Guilford County, provide funding above and beyond the legal mandates. This additional funding is used to pay for local enhancements, such as extra teaching positions to reduce class sizes, teacher and staff salary supplements, and other programs and services in response to unique local needs. Please see the Guilford County Schools website at http://www.gcsnc.com/ for more details about the school system and its services.

The Superintendent must present a recommended budget to the Board of Education by May 1st of each year. The Board of Education must present its formal request budget to the county by

Links to County Goals and Strategic Priorities:

COUNTY GOAL: Encourage Sustainable Economic Development and Growth

PRIORITY: Support a high quality of education and schools

State Funds$370,995,882

54%Guilford County$215,287,579

31%

Federal Funds$41,188,292

6%

Other Funds$65,452,854

9%

Guilford County SchoolsFY 2015-16 Requested Total Budget

$692,924,607

FY 2014

Actual

FY 2015

Adopted

FY2015

Amended

FY 2016

Recommended $ Change

%

Change

FY 2017

Plan

Guilford County Schools

Operating Expenses $177,130,398 $179,360,398 $179,360,398 $183,360,398 $4,000,000 2.23% $183,360,398

Capital Maintenance $1,000,000 $3,770,000 $3,770,000 $5,000,000 $1,230,000 32.63% $5,000,000

Debt Repayment $57,584,492 $64,440,207 $64,451,760 $67,796,870 $3,345,110 5.19% $72,950,175

Total $235,714,890 $247,570,605 $247,582,158 $256,157,268 $8,575,110 3.46% $261,310,573

Sources of Funds

Federal & State Funds

Lottery Funds $4,799,500 $4,799,500 $4,799,500 $4,799,500 $0 0.00% $4,799,500

American Rec/Reinvest Act $1,816,741 $1,831,543 $1,801,938 $1,829,569 $27,631 1.53% $1,829,569

County Funds $229,098,649 $240,939,562 $240,980,720 $249,528,199 $8,547,479 3.55% $254,681,504

Total $235,714,890 $247,570,605 $247,582,158 $256,157,268 $8,575,110 3.46% $256,511,073

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May 15th of each year. The Board of Education requested a total of $215,287,579 from Guilford County -- $205,287,579 for operating expenses and $10 million for capital needs (see pie chart above). More detail about this request is available on the Guilford County Schools website at www.gcsnc.com .

FY 2015 RECOMMENDED BUDGET HIGHLIGHTS

The FY 2015 Recommended Budget increases operating funding for the Guilford County Schools by $4 million or 2.23% to a total of $183,360,398. This appropriation increases the Countys per pupil funding from $2,340 to $2,373.

A total of $5 million is included for capital outlay for the Guilford County School System. The FY 2016 Recommended Budget continues with the funding provided in FY 2015 of $3.77 million plus provides an additional $1.23 million for the school systems growing capital needs.

County Operating and Capital Allocation for Guilford County Schools

FY 13-14 FY 14-15

FY 15-16

Projected

%

Change Change

Student Population Projections

Projected Change in GCS Students 71,787 72,191 71,917 -0.38% (274)

Projected Change in Charter School Students 3,543 4,449 5,357 20.41% 908

Projected Total Change 75,330 76,640 77,274 0.83% 634

Recommended Operating Allocation

Operating Funds 177,130,398$ 179,360,398$ 183,360,398$ 2.23% 4,000,000$

Per Pupil Allocation 2,351.39$ 2,340.30$ 2,372.86$ 1.39% 32.56$

GCS's Estimated Distribution of Local Operating Allocation on a Per Pupil Basis:

Guilford County Schools 168,799,414$ 168,948,415$ 170,648,986$ 1.01% 1,700,571$

Charter Schools 8,330,984$ 10,411,983$ 12,711,412$ 22.08% 2,299,429$

Total 177,130,398$ 179,360,398$ 183,360,398$ 2.23% 4,000,000$

Recommended Capital Maintenance Allocation 2,000,000$ 3,770,000$ 5,000,000$ 32.63% 1,230,000$

Note: Capital funds are not required to be allocated to local charter schools.

TOTAL RECOMMENDED COUNTY ALLOCATION 179,130,398$ 183,130,398$ 188,360,398$ 2.86% 5,230,000$

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GUILFORD COUNTY SCHOOLS

Superintendents Recommended 2015-16 Budget

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2 Superintendents Recommended 2015-16 Budget

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Board of Education ........................................................ 3 Letter from the Superintendent .................................... 5 Vision & Mission ........................................................ .11 Values ........................................................................... 13

Executive Summary ...................................................... 15 Strategic Plan 2016 ....................................................... 19 Major Initiatives for 2015-16 ....................................... 29 PACE Schools Project ....... 31 Budget History .............................................................. 33 Appendices ................................................................... 37

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3 Superintendents Recommended 2015-16 Budget

BOARD OF EDUCATION

Christopher Gillespie, District 1

Ed Price, District 2

Darlene Garrett, District 3

Alan W. Duncan, Chairman, District 4

Linda Welborn, District 5

Jeff Belton, District 6

Rebecca M. Buffington, District 7

Deena A. Hayes, District 8

Amos L. Quick, III, Vice-Chairman, District 9

Sandra Alexander, At Large

Nancy R. Routh, At Large

Education is more than a luxury; it is a responsibility that society owes itself.

Robin Cook

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5 Superintendents Recommended 2015-16 Budget

LETTER FROM THE SUPERINTENDENT

March 24, 2015

Dear Guilford County Board of Education Members:

After years of managing significant budgetary challenges, my budget recommendation for the 2015-16 fiscal year is to seek adequate funding to support the academic, social and emotional growth of all of our students. That recommend-ation includes requested increases from the Guilford County Commission of approximately $25.9 million for operating expenses and $10 million for capital outlay expenses. In each of the past six years, we have gone through a thoughtful and deliberate budgeting process. We approached budget development in a conservative and fiscally prudent manner. That approach has caused us to make millions of dollars of cuts and redirections at the very outset of the budgeting process. Those adjustments have occurred at every school house and central office division. Our focus has been on becoming more efficient with more limited resources and, for the first few years of my tenure, this has limited our requests for additional resources. The Board of Education has, with some notable exceptions, generally adopted my recommendations. Unfortunately, the school board has not been rewarded for these efforts. Rather, the board has been asked to make even more cuts than those already proposed. As a result, the school district has been left with many challenges such as ballooning class sizes, shortages of textbooks and instructional supplies, more educators leaving their jobs, leaky roofs and aging HVAC systems.

Failure of - Cent Sales Tax Impacts Recommendations As we entered the 2014-15 school year, there was some hope that the five-year downward spiral in local per pupil funding would reverse when the Board of County Commissioners placed a cent sales tax increase referendum on the November 2014 ballot. Had that referendum been successful, the increase would have provided approximately $14 million annually in additional revenue that would have been used to keep more teachers and teacher assistants in our classrooms, and purchase classroom supplies like paper, markers, crayons, beakers, digital tools, books and instructional technology. The additional dollars also would have been used to repair and maintain aging buildings and facilities. Unfortunately, the referendum did not pass.

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6 Superintendents Recommended 2015-16 Budget

As a result, for this budget season, we have focused and debated our priorities as a leadership team. We have continued to look for efficiencies. We even welcomed outside consultants who are analyzing our budgets and expenditures for the last five years with an eye towards making recommendations on how we may be able to be even more efficient with our limited resources. The consultants recommendations should be available later this year. In the meantime, I have determined that any potential cuts to funding for central services should go towards restoring resources that have been cut in our schools during the last six years. Sadly, given the ongoing uncertainty of funding at the federal, state and local levels, projected increases in charter school enrollment, a potential, slight decrease in GCS student enrollment, and unfunded mandates, those potential redirections have not been given to schools at thi