Education
Charter school looks for funds to close budget gap
The Coastal Montessori Charter School board is scouring its finances to figure out how to offset an expected $102,699 deficit in the upcoming budget.
Chairman Rick Richardson wants the board’s finance committee to take a “hard look” at the more than $110,000 the school has earned in interest since July on the $2.6 million it has in reserve.
“We’ve got to figure out and be creative in where we shave funds,” Richardson said. “But we’ve got to figure out how we’re going to use that interest account, if we’re going to use it at all.”
“If we’re not talking about [that] fund to get us through next year so then this board has time to strategize about where we’re going to go financially, we’re talking about losing people,” director Chris Bergeron said.
Although the charter school is sponsored by the Georgetown County School District, its board of directors oversees its budget.
The school’s projected spending in the FY26 budget is $2.8 million. Bergeron said the budget projections are based on an enrollment of 240 students. As of mid-April, there were 236 students.
Salaries and benefits for employees add up to nearly $2 million or 77 percent of the budget.
Roxann King, a CPA with Veris, told the board last month that for most charter schools, salaries and benefits account for between 60 and 65 percent of a budget.
It’s “very difficult” to have a balanced budget when the personnel costs are that high, she added. The Montessori model has two teachers in every
classroom since students stay in the same multi-level classroom from first through third grades and from fourth through sixth grades.
“I think that’s why your personnel costs are higher,” King said.
Richardson said it’s difficult to compare Coastal Montessori with other non-Montessori charter schools.
“When you get out of that Montessori universe, it’s not an apples to apples comparison. We’re higher,” he said, adding that Coastal Montessori has a “lot of talent” on its staff.
Another 15 percent of the budget goes for things such as repairs, maintenance, trash pickup, utilities and water and sewer.
The finance committee will meet to come up with recommendations on where to make cuts so the budget can be balanced.
The board expects to adopt its FY26 budget at its regular meeting in June.
The board also faced a deficit in this year’s budget but received a $193,000 tax credit from federal government for retaining employees during the global pandemic.
The election for two of the nine seats on the board ends today at 4 p.m.
In addition to the two elected seats, two other seats are up for appointment.
According to board policy, one of the elected seats must be filled by someone who is a county resident but not a parent of a Coastal Montessori student.
Two of the candidates – Julie Dew and Ricky Ferdon – are already on the board. Ferdon is a retired businessman and athletic coach. Dew is the financial controller of Health Care Partners of South Carolina.
The other two candidates are parents of charter school students. Amanda Bailey is a pre-kindergarten coach and Robin Dawson is the librarian at McDonald Elementary School.
The board recently appointed Jessica Dent to a seat that was vacant because of a resignation.
