The Cabarrus County Schools Board of Education approved the district’s $92 million proposed 2024-25 budget during its Monday meeting.
The budget the board adopted is significantly less than the $107 million that was initially proposed during a budget work session in late March.
The budget, which Chief Financial Officer Phillip Penn has gone over in detail several times, is divided into two main parts: Continuation request ($85,769,245) and Expansion request ($6,690,750).
The $85.8 million continuation request is a five percent increase from the $81.7 million the district received for 2023-24.
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More money in capital request
The district’s capital request totals $162.5 million. The bulk of that comes from new construction, which includes $50.6 million for the new Beverly Hills/Coltrane Webb elementary school, $50.6 million for an additional elementary school to accommodate growth and $2.5 million for the new Opportunity School.
The capital request also includes:
$8.6 million in equipment maintenance including student and staff computer refresh ($5 million) increase fuel capacity with additional tanks ($1.4 million), security cameras ($866,000) and replacement of outdated televisions and smart boards ($1.3 million).
10 capital outlay projects totaling just over $1 million. These include two new activity buses ($300,000), school furniture replacement ($240,000), and fine arts expansion and replacement ($140,000).
36 projects within the $25,000 to $499,000 range, based on ranked priority. The No. 1 project is a $450,000 cooling tower at Jay. M. Robinson High followed by a $498,818 stadium restroom replacement at Concord High. The total cost of the projects is $7.9 million.
10 capital improvement projects totaling roughly $41 million. They include: roof replacement at Pitts School Road Elementary ($2 million), roof replacement at Hickory Ridge Middle ($2 million), roof replacement at Carl A. Furr Elementary ($1.3 million), partial HVAC replacement at Concord Middle ($8 million), HVAC replacement at Rocky River Elementary ($7 million), HVAC replacement at Winecoff Elementary ($7 million), parking and drives replacement at Concord High ($1.8 million), parking and drives replacement at Central Cabarrus High ($1.8 million), parking and drives replacement at Wolf Meadow Elementary ($1.5 million) and HVAC replacement at Central Cabarrus ($9 million).
The total request the district is seeking from the Board of Commissioners is $255 million.
Dr. John Kopicki, superintendent, and Penn will present the proposed budget to the BOC on April 18. The district will find out what the BOC decided to fund during its June 17 meeting, Kopicki told the board.
Assuming the BOC does not fund everything in the proposed budget, the district will have to readjust, Kopicki said, which includes making any necessary cuts.
The school board also approved the district’s 10-year Capital Improvement Plan, which details the 12 priority projects, including replacing the Opportunity School ($12 million), replacing Mary Frances Wall with a new Pre-K facility ($11 million) and the replacement elementary school for Coltrane-Webb/Beverly Hills ($50.6 million).
