When the ANCS board completed its annual midyear amendment of the school’s budget a few months ago, we passed a threshold that’s never before been hit in the school’s history by exceeding $10 million in projected income for the current fiscal year. Though that high water mark was reached in part by large one-time local tax revenue payments through the Atlanta Public Schools-City of Atlanta Beltline agreement and grant funds, it does highlight the seriousness with which we must treat budgeting the expenditure of such a large amount of money.
This Thursday we’ll be holding our annual community meetings about the proposed budget for ANCS for next school year (one meeting will take place after morning meeting at 8:15 at the elementary campus cafeteria, the other that evening at 6:30 PM in the middle campus library–you may also comment on the budget during public comment at the board’s May 16th board meeting). As always, decisions about how to allocate our funding are guided broadly by our mission, vision, and values and more specifically by the goals and objectives in our multi-year strategic plan. With these guideposts, we are able to make informed determinations about where to dedicate our resources in order to best serve students now and into the future and to fulfill our fiduciary responsibilities to taxpayers who fund our public school. Within this framework, over the past several years we’ve devoted resources towards many strategic initiatives such as:
- lowering the student-to-teacher ratios in alignment with our plan for phased class size reduction
- increasing compensation, instituting an employee wellness program, and augmenting professional development offerings to attract, support, and retain the best teachers and staff
- pursuing International Baccalaureate (IB) authorization for the middle campus
- developing our own “farm-to-school” meal program
- completing facilities improvements and deferred maintenance projects
- establishing reserve funds for facilities and technology capital projects as well as emergency needs
In looking at fiscal year 2018 (FY18) we expect that our local/state funding will be slightly higher on a per student basis as compared to FY17. Therefore, we plan on maintaining expenses at current levels in most areas. Our two biggest proposed budget adjustments for FY18 are (1) continued implementation of our plan for class size reduction and (2) additional funding towards employee compensation, both to remain competitive with the Atlanta area education job market and to institute a new bonus structure to reward sustained excellence among long-term ANCS teachers and staff. We believe these areas of focus are the highest priorities remaining in our current strategic plan.
Figuring out the most effective and efficient way to use millions of dollars is no easy task. I’m grateful to our Director of Finance and Operations, Kari Lovell, and the board’s Finance and Operations Committee chaired by board member Ryan Camp for the time and care they put into steering that process. Again, we’ll hold two community meetings this Thursday where you can hear more about and discuss the proposed budget in advance of the board’s scheduled vote on the FY18 budget at its May 16th monthly board meeting.