After the Knox County Board of Education delayed voting on the superintendent's budget proposal more than week ago, the board will have to vote on it Monday afternoon in a special called meeting.
The board's lawyer said the deadline to send the budget to the Knox County mayor is on Tuesday, May 1.
Earlier this week, a new report from the Tennessee Department of Education showed Knox County Schools would receive $2 million more than the district originally thought.
The new numbers released show Knox County will receive $219 million in funding for 2019. That's more than the school district's original estimates of $217 million.
For supporters of programs like magnet schools and Project GRAD, the $2 million more gives them hope that programs like these won't lose funding. The additional money will be up to the board to decide on how to allocate the money to the programs.
On Friday, Superintendent Bob Thomas sent a memo to school board members reflecting on the additional funding, which wasn't as high as the state estimated. In the memo, Thomas said the state's funding was $1.9 million high than originally projected, but the schools would receive $516,000 less than expected from county property tax collection. The net increase was $1.4 million.
Among other things, the revised budget would provide $160,000 for magnet programs, but it is possible the programs would have to compete for that funding.
The new budget also funds Project GRAD's revised request for $500,000 to "provide a dedicated focus on increasing college and career readiness at two of our high schools, including increasing graduation rates, increasing post-secondary enrollment rates and increasing the number of scholarship recipients."
According to a statement from Project GRAD, the original budget request from KCS for 2019 was $1 million to fund and support inner-city students. Project GRAD said it revised its proposal and would focus the investment from Knox County Schools on two high schools - Austin East and Fulton. The statement also mentioned even with the proposed $500,000 in funding, the program would need to raise even more money this year from other sources, not just Knox County Schools. The statement said Knox County School's $1 million annual investment with Project GRAD leveraged $1.5 million each year in private and other funding.
Throughout the month of April, hundreds of parents and educators showed up to the board's work session and one of its meetings to support magnet programs and Project GRAD. Many people showed up outside the City County Building in downtown Knoxville before the panel had met.
The Knox County Board of Education will vote on the superintendent's proposed budget of $484.5 million on Monday, April 30 at 5 p.m. in the City County Building's main assembly room.