Wayne County school board passes 2005 budget
By Phyllis Moore
Published in News on September 13, 2005 1:49 PM
The Board of Education approved a $148 million budget for Wayne County Public Schools Monday night.
The school system has been operating on an interim budget in recent months, pending finalization of the state and local allotments, said Nan Barwick, assistant superintendent for finance. The school system's fiscal year typically runs from July 1 to June 30.
Financial matters caused a summer of dissention between the school board and county commissioners that began when the school board filed a legal protest about the amount of money commissioners allocated to public education in its June budget.
In July, the matter was taken to court after commissioners challenged the legality of a meeting scheduled by the school board in response to a request from the commissioners. Superior Court Judge Jerry Braswell later assigned a mediator to work with the two boards on their budget conflicts.
Compromise was reached August 15, when the commissioners decided to give the school system $350,000 of the $801,000 appropriation the county had set aside for future school needs.
The school system's budget comes from five sources, Mrs. Barwick said.
Local current expense funding, providing for instructional programs and support services, accounts for $21.8 million. More than $100 million comes from the state public school fund, with $14.8 million contributed from Federal funds, $8.2 million from food services, and $2.9 million from the capital outlay fund.