In his first proposed budget, Hamilton County Schools Superintendent Bryan Johnson is looking to add resources, raise teacher pay and tackle some of the individual struggles of students.
Thanks to the retirement incentive approved by the school board in February, the district has more money to play with in next year’s $380 million-plus budget, in addition to routine revenue increases, property tax growth and local sales tax increases.
About 150 employees took the retirement bonus, which enticed more expensive, seasoned educators to retire, allowing those vacated positions to be filled with lower-cost employees. The projected savings – $3.5 million – as well as $2.1 million in savings from “repurposed positions” and staff reorganization across the district, allowed Johnson to present a base budget that was a million dollars less than fiscal year 2017’s to his board.
Johnson’s budget reflects some of the district’s priorities, which he said was inspired by the 23 community listening sessions he and his staff have held across the county since he took over leadership of the district last summer. Five key areas are seeing more investment: art education, school safety, technology, community schools and social and emotional supports.
These priorities make up the majority of the $12 million in requested additions in Johnson’s proposed budget, with an estimated $420,000 needed for each seven art teachers, seven English as a Second Language teachers, and seven counselors or social workers; $300,000 allotted for family engagement specialists for the new community schools models; $2.7 million allotted for technology resources and more than $730,000 for school safety enhancements and, for the first time ever, funds allotted for school resource officers.