Talbot Schools Have Paid $13 Million of an $84.6 Million Budget; $73.6 Million Is Paid, Committed or Projected

EASTON, MARYLAND — Talbot County Public Schools had paid $13.0 million of its $84.6 million general operating budget through Sept. 30, according to the district's monthly financial report. Another $60.5 million was committed or projected, which leaves a balance of $11.0 million with nine months left in the fiscal year.

The two numbers together, $73.6 million or 87% of the budget, are what the report calls combined expenditures. Chief Financial Officer Sarah Jones told the Board of Education on Oct. 14, according to draft minutes, that the figure is a mix of what the district has paid to outside vendors and the projected full-year pay of all 10-, 11- and 12-month staff, which the report counts the first time they receive a paycheck in the new year. She described almost $74 million as spent. Cash actually paid out is the smaller number, $13.0 million, or about 15% of the budget.

Jones said the district is within budget in all categories. The report shows that at the category level: administration is $263,362 under its budget, and special education is $384,644 under.

Two salary lines inside those categories are projected over. Special education salaries and wages are budgeted at $7,476,646 and projected at $7,961,958, which is $485,312 over, or about 6.5%. Administration salaries and wages are budgeted at $1,566,449 and projected at $1,591,533, which is $25,084 over, or about 1.6%. Instructional salaries, the largest line at $32.6 million, are projected $1,281,121 under.

On the revenue side, the district had received $22.5 million, about 27% of the $84.6 million budgeted. Local revenue was $14.8 million of $58.4 million, and state revenue was $7.6 million of $23.4 million. The budget also counts $2.7 million drawn from fund balance, the district's savings, which does not arrive as cash revenue.

A Patriot calculation, not a district figure: $11.0 million spread over nine months is about $1.2 million a month.

At the same meeting, a board member asked whether the district met the state-mandated $60,000 starting teacher salary. Jones said it did, by the July 1 deadline. Asked whether any district had not, she said she did not know.

The report covers the first three months of the fiscal year, and the minutes are marked draft. The board's next meetings are a work session Monday, Nov. 9, and a regular meeting Wednesday, Nov. 11.