The Bremen Board of Education handled important business in their Monday night regular session meeting. The board unanimously approved the local and state dollars necessary to fulfill the recommendation to ensure all employees in state-funded roles, as well as those in the certified and classified roles not funded by the state, receive retention supplements. On December 18, 2023, Governor Brian Kemp had announced that the state of Georgia would amend the fiscal year 2024 budget to fund a retention supplement for kindergarten through twelfth grade teachers and support staff, which led to the timeline for the action. On December 29, 2023, finance officers for all Georgia school districts received “highly anticipated guidance” which included the total funding per school district, the positions funded, and a frequently-asked-questions document.
In January Director of Finance Allen Pullen provided a breakdown of the information which reflected the amount of funding received from the state, the amount needed to cover Bremen City Schools employees and the difference in the two numbers. It was determined $298,939.47 was needed to fund 279 BCS teachers and support staff fully, but only $235,703 was received from the state. The difference of $63,236.47 was covered by BCS general fund. In Superintendent Shannon Christian’s recommendation he included that the payment be run in a separate payroll as soon as possible, approximately Friday, January 12, 2024. During the Board’s work session on January fifth they discussed the funding data and requested a recommendation be made at that meeting. The local dollars approved made it possible for all full-time and 49% certified and classified staff to receive a supplement. The district’s two 49% certified staff members will receive $490, and all others will receive $1,000 before taxes. “Many of our teammates wouldn’t have received this supplement except that our Board went above and beyond what the state allocated to BCS,” Christian said in an email. In addition to a special thanks to the Board, Christian expressed appreciation to Pullen and Suzanne Robinson.
Other financial business was presented by Pullen during this meeting which was a summary of budgets and finance through December 2023, which included local ad valorem tax collections and SPLOST collections from Haralson and Carroll sales totaling $254,516.72. The FY24 local taxes collected were $416,863 and FY24 title ad valorem tax (TAVT) collected was $177,794. There were zero dollars spent on capital project expenditures in December.
During this meeting, the election of officers also took place for board chairman, vice chairman, and treasurer. The board unanimously voted for Mr. Vann Pelt for Chairman, Mr. Kelley Pollard for Vice Chairman, and Mr. Brandon Barrow for Treasurer with each nominee abstaining from voting. Judge J. Edward Hulsey Jr. swore in three BOE members, including Pollard for his third term, and welcomed Mr. Tony Armas and Mr. Matthew McClure. “Thanks to each of you for your willingness to serve this great school district,” Christian wrote in an email.
Photos provided by Bremen City Schools
