Updated May 15, 2019

A 2 percent raise for all school employees was included in a budget approved by the Giles County Board of Education.

The 2019-20 school system budget will go to the Giles County Commission’s Schools Committee at a meeting scheduled for Friday at 9 a.m. in the basement boardroom of the Giles County Courthouse Annex.

If approved by the Schools Committee, the budget will then go to the county commission’s Budget Committee and will require full county commission approval.

Giles County Director of Finance Beth Moore-Sumners presented a budget proposal with two options concerning raises that includes paying teachers and supervisors on a new salary schedule which follows a salary schedule similar to the state.

 The board unanimously approved the first option which gives at least 2 percent raises to all school system employees. The second option would have given 2 percent raises only to teachers and supervisors.

Moore-Sumners estimated the school system’s fund balance in the 2019-20 budget to be $5.8 million.

The school board’s vote to send the budget to the Schools Committee passed by a vote of 6-1, with board member Jim Stewart voting no.