RISON - The Cleveland County School Board approved what Superintendent Jerrod Williams described as a "tight" budget for the 2023-24 school year during its regular monthly meeting Monday night.
Meanwhile, the board also approved two bids to improve on-campus security: one for installing new cameras and access controls panels, and another for putting up a new fence around the playground area behind Rison Elementary.
The budget for the 2023-24 school year approved by the board has a starting "legal balance" of $982,281.75 in the district's general fund. That is the same figure that was left in the general fund when the Cleveland County School District closed out its books for the 2022-23 school year. The district began last year's budget with a legal balance of $1,164,573.57 in the general before eventually seeing that balance declining by $182,291.82 at the end of the year.
Williams explained that the "legal balance" is what the district has left in the general fund account once all federal money and other dedicated funding is taken out of the equation. In essence, the legal balance reflects what money the district has to pay for operations and other expenses.
During the annual “Report to the Public” held before the start of Monday night’s board meeting, Williams presented a graph showing the district’s closing balance for the past five years beginning with the 2018-19 school year. The graph showed a declining balance each year over the period with an uptick in 2021 -22 as a result of the federal Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) funding the district received for support during the COVID pandemic.
The ending balance for 201819 was $1,184,310.19 before falling to $1,095,394.93 in 2019-20 and then to $1,077,160.42 in 2020-21. The ESSER funding allowed the district to seen an increase to $1,164,573.57 for 2021-22 before falling to $982,281.75 at the close of the 2022-23.
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