The Bremen School Board got an update on the budgeting process Wednesday. Superintendent Dr. Jim White says the Education Fund, which is where teacher salaries are budgeted, is pretty tight.
“About 95 percent of everything in the Education Fund are our salaries and benefits, and they’re pretty locked in,” he explains. “So there’s not a lot of flexibility administratively or for governance to say, ‘Hey, we’d like to do something different and take this money and apply it elsewhere’ because we simply have commitments to meet payroll.”
White says a big part of Wednesday’s presentation was simply reminding board members about the new school funding structure that was put in place this year. On January 1, each school corporation’s General Fund was replaced by an Education Fund, while the Capital Projects, Transportation, and Bus Replacement Funds were combined into an Operations Fund. Bremen school officials are currently exploring the possibility of a property tax referendum, to help boost the schools’ mental health initiatives.
In other business Wednesday, White says the school board approved a policy waiver to allow the Bremen Kiwanis to borrow a couple of small Gator vehicles for an upcoming fundraiser.
