District 2 schools budget to rise $13.7M

SUMMERVILLE — Dorchester District 2 officials are projecting a budget increase of more than $13.7 million for the upcoming 2008-09 year, but Superintendent Joe Pye said the district has little leeway on how to use the funds.

At a budget workshop with school board members Monday night, district officials presented a general fund budget proposal that shows revenues and expenditures growing from $129.4 million this year to $143.1 million in 2008-09. The district expects enrollment to increase by 650 students next year, which is less than the overwhelming 900-student per year spike that the district has averaged in recent years. The enrollment downturn means less money will flow to the district from the state, said Allyson Duke, the district's financial services director.

Of that $13.7 million jump, roughly $11.4 million must be spent on a standard cost-of-living increase in salaries and benefits for employees. That $11.4 million also includes hiring 56 additional teachers at a cost of $3.4 million as the district attempts to keep pace with rising enrollment, Duke said.

Pye and his staff recommended spending the remaining $2.3 million on start-up costs for the new Ashley Ridge High School, beginning summer school in elementary and middle schools, slightly increasing each school's per-pupil discretionary money and following state-mandated programs for mentoring new teachers. Pye said that list of new initiatives doesn't come close to what principals and instructional leaders originally requested.

"We had a list of about 100 things, and what did we put in the budget? Four or five," Pye said.

Read more in Tuesday's edition of The Post and Courier.