School Board Looks At Budget, Honors Many

The Jasper County School Board met for a work session on May 6, taking a first look at the 2026 budget as well as recognizing county spelling bee winners and the Jasper County Middle School (JCMS) track team, and saying good-bye’s to long time Jasper County Primary School (JCPS) Principal Pam Edge, who is retiring at the end of the school year.

Supt. Kenny Garland also had an extensive presentation on the Fiscal Year 2026 Capital Outlays with a list of “Have to,” “Need to,” and “Want to” Among the “have to” group was a roof at Jasper County Central Services/Middle School, estimated at $275,000, technology server closets at a budget estimate of $50,000, which will be combined with some operational maintenance budget, and an additional “storefront” for the Pre-K building.

An estimated budget of $475,000 would cover the “Need to do” list of new lockers for the middle school, resurfacing of the middle school track, replace gym floor at the middle school. If no pad repair is needed the estimate is $50,000, and if the pad needs repair it would run more like $100,000. Another $45,000 is the estimated cost of flooring on the seventh and eighth grade halls at the middle school.

Other “needs” include vehicle replacement…two for the transportation department a “gator’ for the high school campus and an ag truck. Another need, which could be handled under the maintenance budget is painting at the middle school. The last need is a furniture request for the primary school, and that cost is estimated at $15,000.

Bids for the high school addition came in at $10.1 million, which is $600,000 less than anticipated for a new 25,000 sq.ft. CTAE building to accommodate growth.

Supt. Garland presented a “first look” at the budget. Student enrollment is currently 2,776, and it is projected to be 2,850 next year. The overall budget is estimated to be $39,600,000 which is a 9.7 increase over this year. Personnel is 83 percent of the budget, including school resource officers and custodians make it 86 percent. There has been a 7.5 percent increase in employer costs for health insurance.

These are preliminary numbers, as it is the “first look.”

The proposed budget includes several additional certified personnel positions to handle the growth in the system. The technology budget is increased to $1,450,000 to cover a four year plan to replace infrastructure, purchase of mathematics curriculum, revisions of platform and services at Japer County Virtual Academy, and Centegix renewals.

The custodial contract is increasing by three percent. The budget also includes $340,000 for two school resource officers. That includes a one time startup of $163,000 for equipment. Salary and benefits total $176,000. The budget also includes money to begin a Junior ROTC program at a cost of $125,000 for personnel and start-up equipment. Another increase in the budget is bus driver salaries which totals about $80,000 to the budget.

A $35,000 increase in the athletics budget is anticipated due to growth in programs and restructure of supplement schedule. In addition, the band program has grown, and that budget is increasing by $10,000. The maintenance budget is increasing by $7,500 for groundskeeping. The budget also has a 2.5 percent contingency built in.

A review of the revenues shows that the amount the school gets in equalization money dropped by $309,458. Staff is estimating revenues at $36,130,788, which assumes a 10.5 percent increase in ad valorem revenue due to growth in the digest. (Digest number are not yet ready because of changes enacted by House Bill 581. )

The school received about $580,000 this year for midterm adjustment, but the 2026 budget is figured without that because it is not guaranteed. So, expenditures total $29,600,000, and revenues total $36,130,788. The school has $9,777,087 in reserves which will help fund the shortfall. The system is required to keep 15 percent of budget it reserves, and the goal is to have 25 percent. Depending on what the board adopts as the budget, the reserve amount will drop to 16.9 percent or more.

The board meets next Tuesday, May 20, and will delve into it further.

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