The Federal Funds Fiscal Year 2027 Budget for Oconee County Schools, which at $6.3 million is dwarfed by the $122.5 million General Fund Fiscal Year 2027 Budget, has played a slightly more prominent role than usual in budget discussions this year.
Chief Financial Officer Peter Adams told School Board Chair Michael Ransom at the first public hearing on the budgets on May 21 that Oconee County Schools will draw from the Fiscal Year 2027 Federal Funds Budget to hire two literary coaches for the system’s middle schools.
Adams also has told the Board that one of three new areas of funding for the Fiscal Year 2027 Budget is the addition of $250,000 to offset a deficit in the School Nutrition Program.
That deficit is the result of a number of factors, including the elimination after Fiscal Year 2024 of special funding from the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act) signed into law by President Donald Trump in March of 2020.
The Federal Funds Budget for FY 2027 shows a further decrease of $1.3 million from the current fiscal year, including a cut in school nutrition funding of $933,102.
Funding for the two literacy coaches will come from that federal budget, School Superintendent Melissa Butler said after the May 21 Board meeting.
The Fiscal Year 2027 Federal Budget tentatively approved by the Board shows a cut of $64,334 in funding for the two programs from which the literacy coach monies will be taken. Those monies at present are used for professional learning and instructional support.
The Board will take final action on its Fiscal Year 2027 General Fund and Federal Funds budgets at its sole June meeting, at 6 p.m. on June 15 in the Instructional Support Center in Watkinsville.
Federal Fund Budget
Chief Financial Officer Adams, in his three presentations to the Board, mentioned the Federal Funds Budget at the very end and with little detail.
“The Federal Funds represent approximately 5.2 percent of the overall budget and includes an average about nine programs each fiscal year,” Adams said in his first presentation to the Board on the budget on May 11.
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“These are reimbursement based, requiring the district to front the expenditures and receive payments as a lag throughout the fiscal year,” he said.
Adams did not mention the cut in the federal funding from Fiscal Year 2026 and did not mention the cut to funding for school nutrition.
According to Oconee County Schools Communications Director Steven Colquitt, Oconee County Schools did not produce a separate Federal Funds Budget prior to Fiscal Year 2023.
Budgets for Fiscal Year 2023 through Fiscal Year 2027 are available on the simbli web site, and they show steady growth in the overall budget and in the nutrition budget from Fiscal Year 2023 to Fiscal Year 2026.
According to Colquitt, Oconee County Schools received $816,402 in CARES Act Funding across Fiscal Years 2022, 2023, and 2024.
With that funding, the school nutrition program ran a surplus in Fiscal Year 2022 and Fiscal Year 2023, according to data provided by Colquitt.
The program ran a deficit of $910,443 in Fiscal Year 2025. As of April of this year, the program had a deficit of $687,328.
Balancing Strategies For Nutrition Fund
Adams, in the discussion of the nutrition funding at the May 11 meeting, said “the district is implementing a combination of menu adjustments and targeted price increases” in addition to the $250,000 transfer of funds from the General Fund to address the current budget shortfall in Fiscal Year 2027.
“These increases reflect a 25 cent increase in meal prices to help recoup cost,” he said. “In order to fully offset these meal prices,” he said, “we would have needed to increase by approximately 75 cents. However, we determined that such an increase would place too much of a burden on a Oconee County Schools families.”
“These actions are expected to offset the anticipated shortfall while maintaining quality meal services for students,” he continued. “The school nutrition program is being managed to remain financially stable without requiring additional funding support.”
The School Nutrition Program is an Enterprise Fund, meaning it is supposed to cover its costs with revenue it raises.
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| Adams 5/11/2026 |
In an email message on May 29, Colquitt said Oconee County Schools will use “several strategies to help reduce that gap, including a modest meal price increase, changes to a la carte offerings, continued monitoring of food and labor costs, potential partnerships with local vendors to offer new menu items next year, and up to a $250,000 transfer from the General Fund.”
Colquitt said “The meal price increase and a la carte adjustments are projected to generate approximately $161,000 in additional revenue. The remaining shortfall will be addressed through a combination of other innovative solutions designed to strengthen the program while continuing to provide quality meals for students.”
Colquitt said even before the budget cuts, the federal funding did not “keep pace with the significant rise in food, labor, and operational costs.”
“(C)urrent student meal prices do not cover the actual cost of preparing and serving each plate,” Colquitt said. “Under the current pricing structure, the district loses money each time a paid student eats a school meal.”
The Fiscal Year 2027 pricing for meals not covered by the federal school nutrition monies will increase the cost of breakfast from $1.75 to $2.00, the cost of elementary school lunch from $2.75 to $3.00, and the cost of middle and high school lunch from $3.00 to $3.25.
Literacy Coaches
The General Assembly passed, and Gov. Brian Kemp has signed, House Bill 1193, the Georgia Early Literacy Act of 2026.
HB 1193 requires children to attend kindergarten before enrolling in first grade and requires the State Board of Education to “provide grants to local units administration with eligible schools for the purpose of reimbursing such units of administration for expenditures sufficient to pay the beginning salary and benefits of one school based literacy coach per eligible school.”
In its original form, the money was to be provided to the schools through the Qualify Basic Education (QBE) formula, but that provision was changed in the Senate before final passage to a grant program.
Oconee County Schools will receive funding for seven literacy coaches, one for each of its six elementary schools and one for it sole primary school.
Adams told the Board at that May 21 Budget Hearing that two additional literacy coaches are included in the Fiscal Year 2027 budget.
Superintendent Butler said after the meeting that “we’ll use a mixture of Title IA and Title II Funds” for those positions, with one assigned to the much larger Oconee County Middle School, and a second to be split between Malcom Bridge Middle School and Dove Creek Middle School.
Current Programming
Jennifer Whitaker, Chief Academic Officer for Oconee County Schools, said in an email message on May 25 that use of the $745,032 in Title A Part A and Title II Part A in the Federal Fund Fiscal Year 2027 Budget to fund the two literacy coaches will reflect a reallocation of some of the monies used for professional learning and instructional support in the past.
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| Butler 5/21/2026 |
Title I Part A are federal funds to support improving the academic achievement of students who are economically and educationally disadvantaged. Title II Part A funds support professional learning for educators and leaders at the school, district and state levels.
Butler referred me to Whitaker for an explanation of the impact of the reallocation of funds for the literacy coaches on current uses of funds from Title I Part A and Title II Part A.
Whitaker responded on May 25, focusing entirely on Title II programs. The Fiscal Year 2027 Budget has $572,048 in Title I Part A funding and $172,984 in Title II Part A funding.
“Title II grants are federal funds that help support strong instruction by investing in teacher and leader development,” she wrote. “These funds may be used for professional learning, recruitment and retention efforts, and other instructional support initiatives.”
“Each year, we review district needs and determine the best way to allocate these funds to support our schools, teachers, and students,” she wrote.
“In previous years, these funds have supported a variety of instructional development opportunities, including gifted endorsements for K–8 teachers, ESOL endorsements, stipends for teachers completing summer instructional work, substitute coverage for teachers attending professional learning, and conference attendance tied to instructional improvement.”
ESOL is English for Speakers of Other Languages. Endorsements are trainings for certified teachers who want to add expertise in specific areas.
“Some of the same types of support will continue,” Whitaker continued, “but the addition of instructional coaches allows us to streamline and strengthen this work. Instead of relying solely on one-time training or external opportunities, instructional coaches will provide ongoing, job-embedded support directly in schools.”
“The addition of instructional coaching positions is not intended to take away opportunities from teachers or leaders,” she wrote. “Instead, it is a way to expand and strengthen the district’s overall professional learning system by providing more consistent, school-based support that is directly connected to classroom instruction and student needs.”
The Georgia Department of Audits and Accounts, in a March assessment of the economic impact of HB 1193 before its passage, estimated the salary of a literacy coach “would range from approximately $76,574 to $114,468 for larger schools and $38,287 to $57,234 for smaller schools.”
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