As governments across the state scramble to build their budgets for next year, the Coweta County Board of Education tentatovely approved a $175.9 million operational budget this week.

The budget does not seek a millage increase from last year’s 18.59 mills, and there’s a reason for that, said school spokesperson Dean Jackson.

“We’re looking at a growth rate in the tax digest of about 5.5 percent this year,” he said.

Neighboring Fayette County’s tax digest grew just about 2 percent, and board members in Fayette are looking for cuts to balance their budget.

Jackson did say the budget also projects the use of up to $3.6 million in reserves to balance the budget. The board has budgeted into reserves the last four years, but has not had to draw on the funds since 2005, he added.

The General Fund Budget of $175,931,581 tentatively adopted by the school board Tuesday reflects an increase of $9.4 million over last year’s General Fund budget of $166,525,599.

Jackson said the budget calls for a 2.5 percent state raise for certified and non-certified employees, and “step” raises due to employees based on experience are also funded in the General Fund budget.

$7.4 million of the $9.4 million increase reflects student enrollment growth (approximately 30 new teaching positions net are anticipated next year), and cost-of-living and step raises for existing personnel in all positions. $800,000 more is being budgeted for fuel costs, reflecting an anticipated increase in bus routes (serving more students) and, most of all, a 65% increase in diesel costs, most of which has been experienced during the current school year.

At the beginning of the last school year, the system was paying $2.42 a gallon for diesel fuel. Now, the system’s costs for diesel are $4.10 a gallon. Jackson said the system purchases about 8,000 a gallons during the school year.

School construction is funded principally by the Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (SPLOST) funds and some state funding. The total Capital Projects fund of $36,835,900 reflects the construction this year of a new elementary school on Jim Starr Road in northern Coweta, several school refurbishment and improvement projects, student transportation, and $12.1 million in SPLOST funds that will be used to retire short-term bond debt issued in 2006 that allowed for the start of several SPLOST projects under the current school sales tax.

This year’s budget includes a continuation of state budget cuts. Cuts in state educational funding began in the 2002-2003 school year for all Georgia school systems because of difficult economic conditions in Georgia. The state has restored some of that funding in recent years, with a cut of only $1.2 million in 2008-09, following state funding cuts to Coweta County of $1.9 million in 2007-08 and $2.1 million in 2006-07, Jackson said in a press release this week.

Over the five-year period since state funding cuts began the Coweta County School System has experienced an estimated $17.8 in cumulative cuts of its state funding.