By GRAHAM BROOKS / Staff Writer

COLUMBIANA–The Shelby County Board of Education approved its annual budget for the 2015-2016 school year that was presented to the board on Thursday, Sept. 17.

The budget was passed for the fiscal year beginning Oct. 1 and running through Sept. 30, 2016.

Gary McCombs, assistant superintendent of finance for Shelby County Schools, and John Gwin, supervisor of finance and accounting for Shelby County Schools both made remarks about the system budget through a presentation highlighting the details.

The school system has a beginning fund balance of $31 million and system wide revenues of $202 million provide resources to meet the system’s expenditures needs.

The system-wide expenditures for Shelby County Schools totaled more than $207.9 million with approximately 50 percent of the expenditures going toward instructional expenses that totaled $104.2 million.

As of Sept. 1, the Shelby County School System had an enrollment of 20,053 students, which translates to a per-pupil expenditures of $10,314 when adding in the expenditures less capital outlay.

It was also highlighted in the budget that the Shelby County Board of Education had a decrease in state revenues compared to the previous year.

“Projected growth in local revenues is supposed to offset the impact of the decline in state revenues,” McCombs noted. “The system continues to operate from a conservative budget position and has projected a stable one-month general fund operating ending fund balance.”

Some of the other system-wide expenditures included more than $32 million for instructional support, accounting for 16 percent of the budget and debt service expenditures of more than $17.4 million accounting for eight percent of the budget.