Spending at the Hamilton County Schools is slated to go up $7.5 million under a balanced budget, Schools Chief Financial Officer Thomas Kranz told the County Commission on Wednesday afternoon.
But he said that does not include $7.2 million expected as part of the just-passed BEP 2.0.
Mr. Kranz said there may be some restrictions on that spending, so no concrete plans have been made yet for it. He said that spending will go back before the County School Board and the County Commission.
Under the budget that does not include the BEP 2.0 funds, county school spending goes from $276,650,767 to $280,150,767.
Mr. Kranz said the increase is 2.75 percent or less than the rate of inflation.
Officials said much of the new spending will go for "high academic achievement and hiring and retention of quality staff."
The county schools, for the basic budget, are counting on $2.2 million more from property taxes, $1.7 million from sales taxes and $3.6 million in already-anticipated BEP funds.
Mr. Kranz said, "Our goal is to provide our students with the best education possible in Hamilton County. This budget puts the majority of our tax dollars in the classrooms here it will help students the most. We are looking long term with regard to what our students need to achieve and we plan to use our tax dollars as efficiently as possible to see our students receive the educational experience they deserve."
He said the county schools will be losing their $2 million per year magnet school grant as well as $200,000 in Title I funds.
Mr. Kranz said when the new Signal Mountain High/Middle School opens, it will have an operating cost of $3 million. He said the new high/middle school in East Hamilton County, which opens a year later than Signal Mountain, will be $4.9 million.
County Mayor Claude Ramsey will present his overall county budget recommendation on June 28, and the commission is to set a budget on July 12.