Williamson County Schools financial bind puts approved teacher raises at risk
The superintendent said they’re going to have to cut either programming or cut the pay increase.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WSMV) - The Williamson County School Board approved a 6% raise for teachers and now, school board members said these raises are in jeopardy.
The district said they don’t receive enough money from the state to cover raises. Superintendent Jason Golden said they knew up front they didn’t have the money when they first asked for raises.
He said that they took several actions including, freezing purchase orders, cutting budget requests, and even cutting 28 positions to eliminate overstaffing. They even cut $1 million out of the operations budget. So, he said the initial gap dropped by about $15 million.
But because the state cut its allocations to the county by $2.5 million, and the county commission budget committee has not recommended a tax increase to fund the district, they may still fall short.
The superintendent said they’re going to have to cut programming or the pay increase. The county will have their final vote on the budget and what it will fund on Monday, June 17.
Until then, the superintendent said the board will continue to work and narrow the gap to fund their budget
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