By Barry H. Hendrix
The Thomasville City School District is operating for the 2024-2025 school year with a $419,045.93 deficit, said Vickie Morris, city school superintendent.
She spoke at the June 10 meeting of the Thomasville City Board of Education in the Thomasville High School Library.
The school system has lost federal ESSER (Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief) or COVID funding for Fiscal Year 2025. That funding was used for several positions including the three Assistant Principals, three teacher positions and several reading and math interventionists, she said.
State funding for public schools is based on student enrollment the year before. With the state “Foundation” funding allocated for 24-25, Thomasville High School is over staffed by 2 units and is estimated to be underfunded by $236,718.70. The administration is currently discussing where to cut to address the shortfall, Morris said.
State funding for Thomasville Middle School is short by $223,199.30 (the cost of two teachers). TMS is two staff units over, however, those staff members are needed to keep the school running.
Thomasville Elementary School is short $142,436.34, which is the cost of half an Assistant Principal and half the cost of the Counselor.
It is estimated that the school system is underfunded by the state Foundation budget by $602,376.29 for Fiscal Year 2025, Morris said.
Thankfully, the system will receive additional Other Current Expense (OCE) state funding, which will cut the overall deficit for FY 2025 to $419,045.93.
In other action from the June 10 meeting, the board approved the May 2024 Financial Report presented by Anjelica Gibson, Chief School Financial Officer. Payroll totaled $923,670.75, and accounts payable totaled $449,526.63.
• The following personnel actions were approved June 10 by the Thomasville City Board of Education:
(Employment in Temporary Summer Positions)
Diana Steadham, Nurse;
Jennifer Smith, Teacher;
Wendy Martin, Substitute;
Colleen Daniels, Substitute;
(Employment in Positions)
Tiffney Abston, English Language Arts Teacher at Thomasville Middle School;
Danuell Lewis, Child Nutrition Program (CNP) Assistant at Thomasville High School;
Angie Williams, CNP Assistant at THS;
Pamela Pugh, CNP Assistant at Thomasville Elementary School;
Donna Smith, Pre-K Auxiliary Teacher at TES;
Wendy Chaney, Teacher at TES;
(Transfers)
Aundre Williams, transfer from TCS Technology Integration Specialist, 10 months, to Assistant Principal at TMS, 10 months, effective for the 2024-2025 school year;
Cody Drinkard, transfer from Math Teacher at THS, 9 months, to Computer Science Teacher at THS and TMS, effective for the 2024-2025 school year;
(Resignations)
Kim Stanley, teacher at THS;
(Transfer Rescind)
Wendy Norton, transfer from Special Education Teacher at TES, to Special Education Teacher at THS. Norton will remain at TES.
Taylor Williams was approved as the board president for 23-34, and Rita Nichols was approved as board vice president.
• The board meeting dates were approved for 2024-2025. The next board meeting will be held at 5 p.m. on July 16 in the THS Library. The public is invited.