City schools bonuses coming with hefty cost

Teacher supplements for Clinton City Schools staff are on tap to return for the 2024-25 school term, a topic of much discussion between Superintendent Dr. Wesley Johnson and the Board of Education during a meeting last week.

During the informational items portion of the agenda, Johnson told the board that the “071 Supplement” funds will continue in 2024-25, and the plan for those funds was to be shared with the board in December for allocation in January 2025.

According to Johnson’s presentation, funds are provided from the state as an additional supplement for state positions from PRC (Program Report Codes) 001 and PRC 007. Provided funding can only be utilized to pay teachers and certified instructional support personnel (media coordinators, guidance counselors) and classified staff, however, school and district level administrators were not eligible.

The Board of Education and the system’s executive staff, it was noted, will determine how funds are distributed. The process involves taking the total amount distributed by the state and dividing it equally by the total number of K-12 teachers and instructional staff within the system.

To be eligible for funds, Clinton City Schools must maintain a 5.52 percent ratio in regards to their local teacher supplement. What that ratio means and why they must maintain it drew some confusion from the board,which Johnson explained further.

“The 071 supplement, that is the extra state bonus supplement I’ve talked to you all about before,” he said. “A couple of years ago, we were one of the, I believe there was 32 districts, that was under some scrutiny because they said that the money was being supplanted. So, we have to maintain a certain ratio to ensure that those funds continue for our teachers. That ratio is 5.52 percent.

“Because of that, there is a fairly large amount of money that must come out of local,” he continued. “We recently had an opportunity to hear from our auditor. One thing we talked about in that meeting was this being the first year that we’ve had to come out of local since I’ve been superintendent. I bring this up to tell you we are having to be cognizant of our budget because of, really, two things. One, is this ratio that we’re having to maintain, and then, also, our attendance bonus.

“So this ratio that we have to maintain makes us pay between $650,000 to $700,000 out of local fund balance.”

Johnson said that money did not included benefits such as Social Security, retirement and hospitalization. He also said he believed that number to pay out of fund balance would increase ever year.

“I feel that those numbers are going to go up every year, that being the amount of money we’re having to pay,” he said. “I just wanted to let you know, because there were questions, and I think there should be questions, of why were having to spend potential $1.8 million, which is an awful lot, out fund balance.

““In previous years we’ve had ESSER money to use that we could pay the attendance bonus (with). We don’t have ESSER money anymore, and so the attendance bonus is another $320,000 a year.”

A follow-up question to clarify the 5.52 percent ratio came from board member Carol Worley, who asked: “Do you know what it’s (the ratio) based on?”

“It’s a ratio that the state came up with, and it’s based on the data that was provided prior to COVID,” explained Emily DeVane, executive director of finance for the city schools.

That ratio, she explained Tuesday, is local plus federal certified supplements divided by the total certified salary expenditures.

DeVane said 2021 is when it was decided by the state Department of Public Instruction that the system had to maintain the ratio .”So, we have to maintain the pre-COVID time ratio just like the very last time we gave supplements to teachers or to certified staff prior to receiving the ESSER money.

“As for where they’re (the state) coming up with that figure, they’re using the certified staff, their payroll, or like the salaries that we pay,” she said. “This year, for example, it is $13 million for salaries so it’s 5.52 percent of that we have to pay in local.”

At this point, Johnson stepped back into the conversation.

”So, to be clear, I don’t think it has anything to do with 071, that 5.52 percent ratio is what we have to maintain to receive the 071 supplement,” Johnson explained. “Basically, what they’re trying to do is make sure that you’re not taking their state money they’re giving you as 071 money, and making that the teacher bonus, when you should be using local (money).”

To achieve that desired result, Johnson said a lot careful budget planning would have to be done in the coming years.

“What I’m trying to say in all this is that there’s no longer a buffer since we don’t have ESSER money,” he stressed. “So again, I understand the concern because I would’ve looked at me with a side eye, too, when I said that we’re going to potentially spend $1.8 million from local. I just wanted you to know why. Now we definitely want to continue to maintain the 071 supplement, so what does that mean? That means that we have got to do a really good job of watching the budget carefully and making plans for a budget in 2025-26 where all of this is embedded, and we’re still getting the bottom line back to a zero.”

“So with that, I’m tasking Emily, myself, and all of my staff with coming up with a zero-based budget,” Johnson continued. “What that means is that the bottom line is, we don’t spend anything, you break even. So we’re going to have to be careful and find out where we can trim the hedges a little bit, so that we this doesn’t have to come out of fund balance. Now, I don’t think anybody in this room thinks that we’re going to spend $1.8 million from fund balance, but I’m showing you right here in paper where over a million is, so we’ve just got to be careful.

“Then next year, as we’re planning the 2025-26 budget, we know that ratio and we’ve got to continue to watch it and just do a really good job of planning our budget for 2025-26.”