Bartholomew Consolidated School Corp. officials are projecting a “somewhat challenging” year from a budget standpoint due to increasing employee health care costs, declining tax capital and an estimated reduction in state funding.
Details about the school corporation’s proposed budget were laid out by BCSC Assistant Superintendent Chad Phillips on Monday during the school board’s meeting at Clifty Creek Elementary School.
The proposed budget includes $49.3 million in employee salaries, a 1.65% increase from the 2019 budget, and $19.8 million in benefits, including health costs, which is an 8.2% increase from this year’s budget. Salaries and benefits would make up about 97% of estimated expenditures — every other area of the corporation’s education fund, including supplies, property and equipment, would likely see cuts, according to figures presented during the meeting.
The increase in health costs is, in large part, being driven by health claims and prescription medication costs, said Phillips.
“This impacts every single budget we have,” Phillips said. “We will purchase fewer buses, fewer computers, less furniture and equipment and have less money for raises and for hiring people because of the skyrocketing health costs.”
For more on this story, see Wednesday’s Republic.
