COASTAL OBSERVER

The Georgetown County School District’s proposed FY26 budget includes $2,500 raises for all teachers.

If approved, the starting salary for a teacher would increase to more than $50,000 a year.

The district was already scheduled to raise teachers’ salaries by $1,500. The board added another $1,000 at a cost of $835,273.

District bus drivers would also get raises from $17.91 an hour to $18.27 an hour.

Lisa Johnson, the district’s assistant superintendent for finance and technology, told the school board this week the total proposed budget is $124.11 million.

In April, district principals presented “wish lists” to the board.

Waccamaw Elementary School principal Ashley Cameron asked for another special area teacher. Cameron told the board she has three special area teachers and seven classes so she has her guidance counselor and media specialist helping out.

Johnson recommended that the board grant Cameron’s request, which would cost $95,000 in salary and benefits.

Other requests on principals’ wish lists were three new teachers and a guidance counselor at Carvers Bay high school, and new teachers or administrators at Kensington and Brown’s Ferry elementary schools and Andrews High School along with other positions that would total $1.38 million. 

Johnson suggested the district look for other ways to fund these positions.

“We’re not advising or recommending those at this time,” Johnson said.

If the board abided by Johnson’s recommendation and did not fund the positions on the principals’ wish lists, the district would only have a shortfall of $430,298 in the proposed budget. That is equal to 1 mill.

An operating mill in Georgetown County is currently equal to $428,000. For homeowners it is $6 per $100,000 of assessed value.

School taxes are only paid by owners of businesses, second homes and rental properties.

Johnson reminded the board that the county is going through the reassessment process, so the final millage numbers won’t be available until the summer.

The board learned in April that the district is expecting 209 fewer students in the 2025-26 school year. 

Based on that number, Johnson said this week that the district currently has 22 more teaching positions than it needs.

That number, Johnson added, will be reduced to 13 through attrition, which is teachers retiring, being promoted or quitting.

More than half of the decrease in overall enrollment is expected in Waccamaw Neck schools.

The high school is expecting 65 fewer students, which means it now has four-and-a-half teaching positions it won’t need. 

Although the intermediate and middle schools are expecting fewer students, their teacher allocation should remain the same.

The elementary school is expecting 17 more students. A new special area teacher would not be taken into consideration in teacher allocation.

Among the other positions not counted toward teacher allocation are guidance counselors; media specialists; special education, gifted and talented and 4K teachers; and JROTC instructors.

Waccamaw Neck schools have seen a steady decrease in enrollment in the last few years. There were 2,098 students in the 2023-24 school year and 2,029 in 2024-25.

Enrollments predictions are made by “rolling up” grade levels. This year’s fourth-graders become next year’s projected fifth-graders.