TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) - The Leon County school board is discussing a proposed boost to the budget.
The tentative budget for fiscal year 2019 is $535.8 million. That's about $14 million more than last year's budget.
"I'm really excited for this budget proposal. I'm on cloud 9, to be honest with you," said Superintendent Rocky Hanna.
Hanna is especially proud to be increasing 'blue collar' salaries and raising the district's base pay.
"Our custodians and food service workers and bus drivers that have gone without for so many years are now going to see a significant increase," said Hanna.
The proposed budget also takes steps to increase the district's school supply budget. Hanna says that money is flexible; it can be used for classroom supplies, office needs and much more.
"I'm trying to shrink the back-to-school supply list to reduce the burden on our families," said Hanna. "I'm also committing now a million dollars, $500k for middle and high school athletics and $500k for the performing arts. This will help with band uniforms, sheet music, instruments, the cost to be a cheerleader or play lacrosse. This is to reduce the cost to our families."
Tuesday night, the school board was just as proud of the district's beefed up budget. After Hanna made a presentation, board members and some in the audience began clapping.
Another part of this budget Hanna is highlighting: spending $1.2 million to hire 50 unarmed security monitors. The district is doing this instead of taking part in Florida's Armed Guardian program.
"The best line of defense is not metal detectors or fences to institutionalize our schools," said Hanna. "If you had security monitors at Parkland that saw Nicholas Cruz coming onto that campus and followed him, he never would've had time to assemble a weapon and do the horrific things that he did. It's more people monitoring who's coming and going from our campuses."
Hanna also says hiring unarmed security monitors is much more cost-effective than hiring armed school deputies.
The district also wants to spend about $800,000 hiring 22 behavioral specialists to help elementary schools deal with student discipline.
Hanna says teacher salary negotiations will be starting up within the next few weeks.
For a full breakdown of the proposed budget, click here.
Part of the extra money in the budget is coming from an increase in student enrollment. Hanna says the somewhat unexpected boost in enrollment generated an additional $5 million.
A public hearing for the tentative budget will be held on Tuesday, July 31st at 5:30 p.m. at the Aquilina Howell Center on West Pensacola Street.
