Decatur, GA — The City Schools of Decatur School Board will meet on Tuesday, April 23, at 5 p.m. for a regular meeting. The meeting will be held in person at the Wilson School Support Center, 125 Electric Ave., and virtually via Zoom.

During the regular meeting, the school board will consider approving the tentative fiscal year 2024-2025 budget, which projects about $106 million in revenue and expenditures.

Here is the meeting schedule for April 23:

Executive Session: 12 p.m. – 1:15 p.m.

Pre-work Session: 2:35 p.m. – 3:15 p.m.

Work Session: 3:15 p.m. – 5 p.m.

Board Meeting: 5 p.m. – 6:30 p.m.

Public Comment: 6:30 p.m. – 6:50 p.m.

To access the meeting, follow these instructions:

To view the meeting agendas, click here.

To join the meetings via Zoom, click here. To join by phone, dial+1 646 558 8656 or +1 301 715 8592. The webinar ID is 956 1415 9391.

The CSDBoE welcomes and encourages citizens to attend its meetings. The board offers an opportunity for City of Decatur residents, businesses, organizations, school system employees, or students to address the board at its regular business meeting(s). To allow time for the Board’s other business, Public Comment will ordinarily be limited to one hour or 20 speakers. At the Board’s discretion, the comment period may be extended for a specified amount of time or a specific number of additional speakers.

In-person attendees can register upon arrival by scanning a QR Code on the Board Room entrance. Commenters will use a no-touch microphone. Guest attending via Zoom and wishing to make public comment must complete the public comment form. Anyone wishing to address the Board must be signed up prior to the start of public comment. Please ensure the name you enter on the form matches the name you use(d) to sign-up. If the names do not match, it will not be possible for you to be recognized to participate in public comment. To sign up for public comment, click here.

The board is seeking to increase salaries for teachers and staff in the next fiscal year. Over the last several months, several options have been presented, with various proposals to increase salaries and benefits.

Board members have favored increasing the entry-level salary to $55,200 while working toward increasing it to $57,000. There would also be a 5-8% salary increase for existing teachers and a 5% salary increase for non-teaching positions. Another option for administrative positions would have a $1.3 million impact on the budget.

If both salary increases are added to the general fund, the total revenue anticipated is about $104.5 million, and the expenditures would be about $106.4 million if the tax digest increased by 6%.

If the tax digest increases by 8% then CSD’s total revenue would be about $105.6 million and the expenditures would be about $106.4 million with the salary increases.

The FY 24-25 budget also includes funding for increasing health benefits from the state, a $2,500 bonus from the governor for teachers, a 5% salary increase for all employees, and no reduction in staff.

CSD also has special funds, school nutrition, and a capital fund budget. The special funds budget for FY 24-25 is about $2.77 million, school nutrition is at about $4.36 million and the capital fund is at about $10.1 million in the tentative budget.

– During the work session, the school board will hold the first reading of the food services management policy to establish guidelines around meal charges, communication and delinquent accounts.

The school district’s nutrition fund is an independent fund sustained through meal payments and reimbursements from the state and federal governments. CSD encourages meal prepayment.

“Parents/guardians are responsible for meal payments and for ensuring the student’s account remains in good standing,” the policy states. “CSD encourages funds to be maintained in accounts to minimize the possibility that a child may be without meal money on any given day; however, payments will also be accepted at the time of purchase.”

The policy would allow students to charge breakfast and/or lunch to their account for the equivalent cost of three days after their balance is zero, but a la carte items cannot be charged.

“While the National School Lunch Program does not require schools to provide meals to a child who does not pay for a meal and does not qualify for Free or Reduced Meals, CSD will provide an alternate meal to a student whose account exceeds the allowable charged amount,” the policy states. “Students who qualify for the Free and Reduced Lunch program, through the nature of this designation, will be provided the regular meal, and not receive alternate meals. When alternate meals are served, staff shall take extra care to treat students with dignity and respect.”

– Also during the work session, the school board will discuss textbook, the grading regulation, the education special purpose local option sales tax and a legislative update.

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