BOE approves $46.8 million budget

Published 10:27 am Wednesday, October 3, 2018

The Escambia County Board of Education approved a $46.8 million budget for the 2019 fiscal year recently.
The budget included state, federal, local and other sources.
The BOE’s expected spending totaled at $53.2 million for the year.
Included in that number, are many capital projects on improving the schools and conditions.
“The projects include reroofing W.S. Neal and Escambia County middle schools. We are also doing electrical upgrades at Flomaton Elementary School and finishing up the “W.S. Neal High School” project. We have no plans of doing anything big over the next year besides those few projects,” said Superintendent John Knott.
The budget saw a decrease of seven teaching units.
These units were absorbed through attrition, and no teacher lost their jobs.
The difference between the approved budget number and capital project number will be made up through local revenues and bond issues.
“We are fiscally strong and have done things that needed to be done. The state requires a one-month reserve, which is a little more than $3 million, and we are running two to three months ahead. We are in line as far as the budget and spending are concerned. We are very happy with the way things sit and are excited to be on track,” said Knott.