Staff Writer



EASLEY - Trustees will receive an update on the district's budget process at their February board meeting Monday.



"What do we want to accomplish?" said Superintendent Lee D'Andrea. "We're about student achievement and student development. We want to be sure we're doing the right thing with the money and using the money the right way."



District officials are in the forecasting and planning stages of the budget process for the 2008-09 fiscal year.



State guidelines stipulate how certain portions of state money can be spent, she said.



"Whether it's teacher quality, development, certain kinds of equipment," she said. "That money can't be used for anything other ... than what it's appropriated for."



Past audit data is studied to determine the coming fiscal year budget, D'Andrea said.



"They're an integral part of the budget process," she said.



Last year the district received an unqualified opinion by auditors.



"They found no exceptions (that said) we used the money inappropriately," D'Andrea said.



Officials are looking what the district's needs are, she said.



"It's not a wish list," she said. "It's a list of needs based on data."



Revenue projections are not yet available, although Director of Finance Missy Campbell said she hopes to receive information by early March.



D'Andrea said that Act 388 - which eliminated property tax funding for school operations in favor of a penny sales tax - has "changed the landscape."



"It may be April or May before we know what that revenue looks like," D'Andrea said. "While we have our priority list and our budget needs, we won't be able to match those needs to projected revenue until we have some projected revenue from the state."



Campbell agreed.



"We're just trying to see what the sales tax and the economic downturn is doing to us," she said. "Typically, if the economy goes down, the sales taxes (go down) with it. We're bracing for what the economy is doing."



Campbell said the legislature has promised to fully-fund school districts with Act 388.



"The state would back it with other sources if the penny was not available," Campbell said.



D'Andrea said 59 percent of every district dollar goes into the classroom and that figure is "right dead in the middle" of spending when compared to other districts.



"The highest I could find was 62 percent," she said. "There were some as low as 49 percent."



District spending should be focused on one goal: the classroom, D'Andrea said.



"If we're spending money ... and it's not supporting the classroom, the teacher doesn't feel it's ... making a better classroom, we don't need to be spending that money," D'Andrea said. "We're going on the assumption that the money is helping the teacher and the children."



Support services are crucial as they ultimately support the teacher and the student, D'Andrea said.



"If everything we're doing is not for the betterment of children, then we will review and look at that," she said. "But all of those elements are necessary."



The ultimate indicator of the budget process is the "return on the investment," D'Andrea said.



"Are our students benefiting?" she said.



The district needs to let the community know what they're getting in return for that investment, D'Andrea said.



"We graduated students last year who walked into community colleges and four-year institutions with over $15 million in scholarships," she said. "What a great investment."



Money on spent on district payroll goes back into Pickens County, D'Andrea said.



"We invest almost $6 million a month in payroll," she said. "That goes back into the economy. The investment on the dollar is not only paying for itself, it's paying dividends."



Local legislation requires three readings on the Fiscal Year 2008-09 budget before final approval.



School board meetings are held at 7:30 p.m. on the fourth Monday of the month in the conference room at the district office. Call 855-8150.



Reach Jason Evans at jevans@theeasleyprogress.com or 855-0355.