COLUMBIA, S.C. — The public is invited to the upcoming Richland County School District Two public hearing on July 12 where the board will discuss the 2022-23 budget.
The meeting will be the second reading before the board votes on the almost $315 million general fund budget. The first reading of the draft budget took place during the June 28 board meeting.
Because the South Carolina General Assembly did not finalize the Appropriations Act for fiscal year 2022-23 until June 15, the school district could not present their own budget as approximately 63% of the revenue in the district's general fund comes from state sources.
The district's Board of Trustees approved a continuing resolution in June to allow the district to remain able to issue checks and pay bills until the 2022-23 budget is passed.
The 2022-23 budget does include salary increases for employees, including:
- Teacher Salary Schedule Step increase from FY 21–22 (for eligible employees)
- All Non-teacher Salary Step increase from FY 21–22 (for eligible employees)
- Increase to Teacher Salary Schedule of 2% per cell (for eligible employees)
- Increase all other Salary Schedules by 2% (includes related fringe benefits costs)
- State increase to Bus Driver Salary Schedule of 8% (increase includes 8% for bus monitors)
- Increase Instructional Aides Salary Schedule by an additional 3%
- Increase Maintenance/Custodial Salary Schedule by an additional 3%
Overall the 2022-23 budget projects a 3.27% increase in salaries over the previous year, and a 7.62% increase in the cost of employee benefits.
For the second year in a row, the general fund budget will reflect a $3 million cost savings based on staff turnover.
The Richland County School District Two public meeting will be held at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, July 12, at the R2i2 Conference Center, at Fashion Drive in Village of Sandhill in northeast Columbia.
