On May 14, 2024, incoming Superintendent Mitch Young presented the proposed FY25 budget to the Forsyth County Board of Education (watch here at 32:16 timer). The balanced budget was created with no proposed increase to the current 15.30 M&O millage rate.

The proposed budget has a 10.76% increase in expenses from FY24. 6.44% of the increase is mandated from the State for employee health care, retirement, and raises. The remaining 4.32% increase is for local expenses due to student enrollment growth and employee raises not covered by the State.

“We are charged with providing our students the highest quality education in safe and secure school environments. Simultaneously, we must continue to be good stewards of our citizens’ tax dollars. We took a very conservative approach to developing a budget that achieves both of those goals,” shared Young. “I would like to thank our department leaders for the many months of work that they put into creating this budget. The objectives it achieves align with the goals established in our Strategic Plan, ensuring that we continue to be safe, connected, and thriving.”

Forsyth County Schools is the largest employer in Forsyth County. In the proposed FY25 budget, highlights for eligible certified staff include:

• Step increase for eligible employees
• Addition of a new step to the end of all employee salary schedules
• 1% COLA and $2,500 increase
• $1,500 annual supplement for specialized instruction teachers in January

And for eligible classified staff:

• Step increase for eligible employees
• Expand paraprofessional salary schedule to eliminate static steps
• Addition of a new step to the end of all employee salary schedules except paraprofessionals
• 5% COLA increase for classified staff
• Bus driver starting hourly rate: $21.02
• $1,000 annual supplement for specialized instruction paraprofessionals in January

Pending BOE approval, all employee salary schedules will be released online on June 18, 2024. To learn more about the proposed FY25 budget, click here to view the presentation.