Composed of community members, parents, P-12, and higher education educators, business representatives, faith leaders, and students, the budget solutions group got its first taste of the complicated inner workings of the school system budget and how the district arrived at the controversial occupational license tax—or OLT—increase that was shelved.
"We had a short timeline to come up with recommendations on this $16 million projected gap. And that's how we got to the recommendations surrounding the OLT," Deputy Superintendent Houston Barber said.
Participants then started the process of digging into possible changes.
"Has the board given consideration of reducing our contingency?" one speaker asked.
Another focused on the idea of virtual academy tuition. "Is that something where an infrastructure for that already exists?" she quizzed Barber.
Superintendent Demetrius Liggins said the next session is when the deeper dive begins.
"Every piece of documentation that they've requested will all be provided between now and the next meeting for them to study and to have," he explained.
The next two meetings are set for July 15 and 29.
The goal is to create recommendations for the school board to consider both short and long term.