Carmel Clay Schools (CCS) announced the board’s approval of the CCS 2025 budget. According to CCS, “The 2025 budget maintains a level tax rate for community members while utilizing additional funding from increased assessed value to support our bold vision for upholding excellence in public education.”

The 2025 budget totaled $237,641,810. This includes $140,903,041 for the Education Fund, $52,134,257 for the Operations Fund, $37,420,150 for Debt Service and $7,184,362 for School Safety Referendum. The budget this year is $8,594,253 higher than the 2024 budget, which was $229,047,557.

Superintendent Michael Beresford said the board-approved rates are set slightly higher than state-approved rates.

Beresford said, “We make a budget and we make it intentionally higher than what we’re guessing we would get. The reason you do that is that if the state finally decides how much money they’re going to give us, if we guessed lower than what they would have given us, then we won’t get the difference. But if we make it higher, we’ll get what we asked for. So you always ask a little bit more. But not too much because then it won’t pass.”

The budget process started on Sept. 9 when it was first presented to the Board of School Trustees. On Oct. 15, the public had the opportunity to comment on the budget at a hearing. In addition, Board members actively trained their understanding of the budget in preparation for the approval. Finally, on Oct. 28, the budget was approved 4-0.

As evidenced by the timeline, Beresford said the budget process is tedious and time-consuming.

“It really takes a long time and it’s a tedious process,” he said, “but we’re lucky because we have (Roger) McMichael, our associate superintendent, who handles finance and facilities. It’s not like any other budget that anybody would ever do like at home or for a business because we’re a governmental unit and we have all these laws and steps to follow.”

The next step in the budget timeline is a review by the Department of Local Government Finance. Tax rates are set to be certified by the end of the year.

Senior Eesha Singh said the budget may not be something students are aware of.

She said, “I know myself and others are not explicitly aware of the process in which our school’s budget gets approved and decided. I think it’s important for parents and students to be able to understand this process and the hard work and dedication behind it.”

To learn more about the CCS budget in general, click here.