Hamilton County Schools Superintendent Bryan Johnson will present a “lean” proposed budget to the Board of Education this week, amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
Johnson and his team, including Chief Business Officer Brent Goldberg, had planned to unveil a three-year strategic plan at a board work session on March 26, but the meeting was rescheduled for Monday as the district figures out how the board can meet virtually instead of in person.
Though Johnson has already hinted at his priorities for the fiscal year 2021 budget, with the economic impact of the coronavirus and slashes to proposed education funding in Gov. Bill Lee’s budget, the team has had to revise the budget.
“The primary effect on the strategic financial plan with what happened recently is the plan for growth money has pretty much gone to zero,” Goldberg told the Times Free Press last week. “We aren’t planning on any sales tax growth and the [Basic Education Plan] money we’ll get from the state will be less than what they thought it would be a week ago. … It’s fairly bleak in terms of what we’re expecting.”
Goldberg still plans to present a three-year financial plan with funding and revenue projections through 2023, he said, but most projections for property tax and sales tax growth locally will be scaled down.