Accounting

More information about accounting coming soon.

Payroll

Learn how to access your payroll information online at our Payroll Department.

Purchasing

More information about our Purchasing Department coming soon.

Finance

Funding Public Education

The Department of Business and Finance Services manages spending and purchases, payroll, and maintains the school district's general fund budget and other accounts. Our goal is to design an efficient budget that enables our staff to provide the highest quality of education possible for students while being wary stewards of taxpayer dollars. I hope you enjoy the following information and hope it provides some insight about how we manage the school district’s funds.

  • 87 percent of our budget pays salaries and benefits, leaving 13 percent to operate and maintain our schools.

  • Funding for the current general fund budget (fiscal 2011) is expected to be comprised of 70.6 percent state funding, 28 percent local funding, and 1.4 percent federal funding.

    Here is a brief breakdown:

    • Local: The county tax digest declined last year resulting in a $2.6 million reduction in local funding. We expect the digest to continue to decline, resulting in an additional reduction of 5 to 10 percent next year.
    • State: The state has underfunded its education funding formula by $39.9 million since 2003. That $39.9 million is the local impact, not statewide impact, and is based on the difference between what the funding formula says our school system earns and how much it actually received from the state from 2003 to 2011. We are projecting an additional 3 to 4 percent reduction in state funding for next year.
    • Federal: Public schools received supplemental American Recovery and Reinvestment (ARRA) funds from the federal government during the past two years, which totaled $15.39 million for Whitfield County Schools during that two-year period. Georgia public schools will not receive that federal support next year.

  • Our average spending per pupil during fiscal 2010 was $7,887.46, or $873.93 below the state average of $8,761.39 per pupil. You may review how Georgia public school districts allocate their funds at the Georgia Department of Education.

    Once you are there, leave the default settings of “2010” and “All Districts” and select “Expenditure Report” to be presented with an enormous spreadsheet. That spreadsheet shows funding allocations from every Georgia public school district disaggregated by spending area (transportation, instruction, maintenance, administration, etc.).

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