CCSD Superintendent sits down to talk FY 2025 budget

CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCBD) – The Charleston County School District is weeks away from passing an $847 million General Operating Fund Budget for Fiscal Year 2025.

“I’m really excited about the FY 25 budget. It’s been a long process, but we’ve tried to engage multiple stakeholder groups. We have a wonderful new CFO who has helped us think creatively and strategically about how we prepared the budget and I have been delighted to work alongside the board,” CCSD Superintendent Anita Huggins said.

Superintendent Huggins sat down with News 2 on Wednesday to discuss how the district plans to spend the money. For the last few months, district staff members have been busy crunching numbers to prepare a balanced budget before the proposal is passed off to the Board of Trustees for approval.

“We started planning for the budget back in November. We wanted to be very transparent for the board. Last year’s process was a little more bumpy than any of us would have liked and so we wanted to make sure we were well prepared for this season and we that we identified things and ways that we knew would best serve children,” Huggins explained.

The proposed budget features a few standout priorities including a $7,500 salary increase for teachers across every cell of the pay scale. The superintendent said this would put the district at a roughly $55,500 starting salary which brings them closer to their goal of $58,000.

“We couldn’t get quite up to 10,000 this year. Fiscally, our CFO could have supported it but financially, it didn’t make as much sense this year as the $7,500 to make sure that we can balance the budget and not strain taxpayers,” Huggins told News 2.

The proposed budget will adjust all non-teachers and classified employees to 100% market value and will account for a Weighted Student Funding Formula which is a first for South Carolina.

As explained in the budget book, this means $32.8 million will be provided to schools as an additional allocation to what they usually receive, based on the number of students in poverty, multilingual learners, and students with disabilities.

“In layman’s terms, it’s a way to make sure that we resource schools and kids who need it the most. So, we looked at three groups of children across our system who based on research and data and what we know about best practice, just need more resources typically to be successful in schools,” the superintendent shared.

Superintendent Huggins said WSF money had been saved over the last few years however it also required some staff cuts and reallocated money.

Employee pay raises will be made possible with a 3.9 mill increase. According to the budget book, CCSD will lead teacher compensation in South Carolina after this round of raises.

The first reading of the budget will take place on May 20^th, followed by a second reading and public hearing on June 24^th.