For the first time, every teacher at Greenwood schools will be paid more than $40,000, if the school board approves next year’s budget.
With extra money from the state of Indiana, the school district plans to increase base salaries by 4 percent, which will elevate starting teaching salaries to about $41,516 from $39,919. Teachers who are rated effective or highly effective will also get a stipend equivalent to 4 percent of their salary, Assistant Superintendent Todd Pritchett said.
The school board will vote on the budget later this month. If the budget is approved, it would increase total spending from the debt service, education and operations funds by about $586,000 to $44.1 million, according to budget documents.
The schools will use the extra money to increase pay for teachers and other district employees. The district will get that money, even though its student body only increased by nine students to 3,998 this year, because of increased per-student funding from the state, as well as additional special education grants, Pritchett said.
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Greenwood schools will receive an average of $6,109 per student in 2020, up from $5,983 this year, he said.
Per-student spending will go up due to increased tuition support in the Indiana Department of Education’s budget. The department of education plans to boost that support to $7.4 billion from $7.2 billion this year, with an additional increase that would bring that number to $7.6 billion in 2021, according to budget documents.
Getting a raise means more financial security for hardworking teachers such as Melinda Dittmer, the third grade teacher at Isom Elementary School said.
"I think that’s super important," Dittmer said. "We are all working our tails off. Myself, I’ve got four kids of my own at home. I take stuff home and work on it."
In addition, Greenwood Community Schools will spend millions of dollars paying off its middle school and making improvements to its high school in 2020.
The 2020 budget plan includes $3.5 million in bond payments for Greenwood Middle School, which opened in 2017, and renovations to Greenwood Community High School.
Debt payments will remain roughly the same, at almost $4 million. The district has been paying off debt used to build the middle school and renovate the high school’s activities complex since 2016. The school district will continue to make payments on those bonds, which total $43 million, until 2035, Pritchett said in July.
The district will finish paying off bonds for previous high school renovations next year with a final payment of $575,000. Greenwood schools has had that debt for almost 20 years. It will finish paying off its debt on previous renovations to Central Nine Career Center with a final payment of $34,234. The district will also make payments on debt related to unpaid textbook fees, interest on loans and other miscellaneous fees, Pritchett said in an email.
Overall, there will be a decrease of about $1 million in the operations fund with an increase of about $1.6 million in the education fund. The district did not spend all the money in it had in the operations fund this year and will not need to cut anything from operations, but will have up to $3.2 million to transfer from education to operations next year if needed, Pritchett said.
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2019 budget vs 2020 budget
Fund;2019;2020
Education;$25.4 million;$27 million
Operations;$11.4 million;$10.4 million
Rainy Day;$2.7 million;$2.7 million
Debt Service;$4 million;$4 million
Total;$43.5 million;$44.1 million
2020 debt payments
Middle school construction and renovations to high school activities complex;$2.9 million
Previous high school renovations;$575,000
Interest from temporary loans and operating balance;$400,000
Unpaid textbook fees;$77,279
Central Nine previous renovations;$34,234
Miscellaneous fees;$16,500
Source: Greenwood Community School Corporation
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