Greeneville City School Board members met in a two and half hour workshop Tuesday for discussions related to budget development.
Following presentations from Chief Human Resource Officer Melissa Batson and Assistant Director of Schools for Administration Dr. Jason Horne on goals moving forward, Horne and Operations Supervisor Phillip Graham reported on Capital Projects.
Chief Financial Officer Ellen Lipe discussed the budget update process.
It is an early budget development that shows a $134,780 deficit at this time. Director of Schools Dr. Steve Starnes however, thanked all involved in the budget development process for putting students and staff first in their plans. Discussions about the budget development will continue with another workshop next Tuesday.
Another problem with balancing a budget for school systems is a state mandate, although only partially funded, which requires the minimum starting salary for teachers at $50,000 by the 2026-27 school year. In 2023, the Tennessee General Assembly passed — and Gov. Bill Lee signed — a bill requiring a minimum certified teacher salary. However, the mandate calls for a 70/30 financial split, which means local school systems are charged with finding the additional funding to cover that amount.
ABOUT TISA FUNDING
The 2024-2025 academic year was the first full year the system is under the TISA student-based funding formula used to allocate state funds to school districts. The state funding formula for K-12 schools replaced the Basic Education Program (BEP).
TISA has four components: base funding, weighted funding, direct funding, and outcomes funding. It requires local matching funds and districts to be responsible for 30 percent of the base funding, which is subject to annual appropriations by the Tennessee General Assembly.
For the current academic year, the base TISA funding amount is $7,075 per Average Daily Membership (ADM), a formula the state uses to capture student counts. The count is not a raw number of students but takes into consideration a student’s enrollment and daily class assignment for each of nine reporting periods throughout the year.
ENROLLMENT NUMBERS
Elementary
Tusculum View 404
Hal Henard – 390
Eastview 367
Highland 136
MIDDLE SCHOOL
GMS 590
HIGH SCHOOL
GHS 829 (this number does not include 42 early graduates, 11 juniors and 31 seniors)
TOPS
119
