Becky Soto
A surplus in savings led the Oglethorpe County Board of Education to approve its budget for 2025-26.
The $30.8 million budget includes a nearly $3 million deficit, which will be covered by the school system’s fund equity, or savings account. Expenses are expected to be $33.7 million.
“The reason that the Board of Education was comfortable passing a budget that has a deficit is because we know that we are going to end this current budget year with more money in our fund equity than we budgeted for,” BOE chair Becky Soto said.
Soto added that the BOE's goal was to build the budget based on a zero increase in revenue, with the hopes of not having to raise the millage rate.
She added that the board will take the money from the fund equity, or savings, account and use it to cover the deficit between the budget revenues and expenses.
“We have the money in our fund equity to not only cover that deficit but also remain at a balance that the state allows us to remain,” she said.
She said the state requires the board to have roughly 15% of the budget in a fund equity account and anticipates the board will “end somewhere around 14% and 15%” after covering the deficit.
The board expected a $1.2 million increase in expenses due to “a combination of a hundred little things,” including state health benefits, which increased “substantially” and teacher retirement funds and state salary scales, she said.
Other expenses, like new school buses, a “technology refresh plan” that allows for updated computers and building maintenance contribute to the budget deficit.
“We are always mindful of keeping expenditures reasonable, but the school system is not immune to the inflation and rise in costs that the majority of our community has felt in the last few years,” she said.
The board hopes that by drawing on reserve funds, it may ease the burden felt by taxpayers for the next year, as the board looks for grants and relies on the county’s Educational Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (ESPLOST).
“When we tell you we came in under budget, a lot of that comes from finding grants, realizing, ‘Hey, we didn’t actually have to buy this,’” she said.
Soto said she does not foresee any “long-term issues” when entering the 2026 fiscal year in a deficit because of “a lot more savings” than anticipated at the end of the 2025 fiscal year.
“We always go through every year saving money where we can,” she said. “That’s kind of a mandate. If we don’t need it, we don’t buy it.”
Based on previous meetings and conversations, she said that the board has consistently seen expenses come in under anticipated costs, and revenues “come in over” the anticipated amount because of a conservative plan.
“Our budget is a living breathing organism that is looked at daily,” she said. “Approving a deficit budget for this year does not concern me because I know how we have handled things for the last five years.”