Jun. 8—The Glynn County Board of Education voted Tuesday to approve its fiscal year 2023 budget.

The school district's budget projects a 4% increase in the tax digest and 99% collection rate. The current budget maintains the same millage rate as the previous year's budget, but the board may decide to change the rate after receiving full tax digest information later this summer.

Raises are planned for district staff both through a $2,000 raise promised to all teachers by Gov. Brian Kemp and a local effort to make staff pay more competitive compared to other school districts in the region.

The school board also unanimously voted to purchase a new financial management system, SmartFusion, offered through Harris School Solution.

In other business, the school board approved a memorandum of understanding to partner with College of Coastal Georgia to create a new program that will support education for district staff pursing a teaching degree.

The Leveraging Education Attainment through Partnerships (LEAP) program will provide access to the college's teacher education program to qualified employees of the school district. Paraprofessionals working for Glynn County Schools will be able to complete coursework at CCGA to earn a bachelor of science in education.

The school district will cover the payment of the cost of attendance differential after participants' financial aid has been applied, according to the MOU, and the college will waive certain fees, provide a book scholarship and schedule classes that fit into the district staff's work schedule.

"This is an opportunity for our paraprofessionals to attend the College of Coastal Georgia to work toward a teaching degree," said Michele Seals, executive director of human resources for Glynn County Schools. "... It will help our pipeline to becoming teachers, and we really need this."

Michelle Johnston, president of the college, and Jason Umfress, vice president for student affairs and enrollment management at the college, attended the meeting and afterward signed the MOU with school district leaders.

"We are just really excited about the partnership and the opportunity," Johnston said. "Thank you for entrusting us with this work, and we're excited about preparing high quality and really excellent teachers."