Charleston County School District Superintendent Details District’s Budget

CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCSC) – The superintendent of the Charleston County School District sat down to discuss a budget labeled the most difficult some have seen in years.

The 2024-2025 district budget is challenging for Superintendent Anita Huggins and her team because a large chunk of federal pandemic money is drying up. The Board of Trustees unanimously passed the first reading on May 20 with two major budget proposals making Charleston the only district in the state to implement a new funding formula and lead teacher compensation in South Carolina.

Weighted Student Funding Model

Huggins was one of the largest advocates of the Weighted Student Funding Model since it would allow resources to be allocated to help schools in the district with students in poverty, special education, or multilingual. For the number of students in a school that are in poverty, special education, or multilingual, the school would receive additional resources such as a staff member or program. These students would be weighed higher than average students.

Teacher salaries

On the first reading of the budget, teacher salaries would be increased by $7,500. Pay increases for all non-teachers and classified employees are also included in the budget, providing 100% of the market, which is an overall 6% increase.

Other budget key items

Other than focusing on the Weighted Student Funding Model and teacher salaries, Huggins said the budget also includes the expansion of early childhood, more college support and career readiness programs, and employee daycare opportunities. A pilot program for the employee daycare program already started downtown and in West Ashley, but in 2024 to 2025, another program will be available in North Charleston.

Millage

A 3.9 millage increase is included in the proposed budget, noting that future millage increases are not contemplated in the long-range plan. A millage rate is a tax collected on real estate and large purchases, like cars. However, families who own and live in their homes are exempt from the increased tax on their houses for education purposes.

Feedback from board, public

Budgets can be extremely confusing and hard to understand with different models and numbers, but Huggins made it her goal since becoming superintendent in February to be transparent with the public and help make the process easier to understand.