WOODVILLE &045;&045; A Sunday legislative compromise will result in $19,238 more state funding for Wilkinson County schools during the next fiscal year.

But the district still must budget an additional $408,579 to cover mandated pay raises and increases in employee health insurance premiums.

At Wednesday’s school board meeting, Superintendent Mildred McGhee said legislators granted average eight percent pay hikes to teachers, but didn’t fund the raises.

&uot;The legislators told teachers ‘We passed a raise,’ but they’re not giving it to them. It’s law, but they’re not financing it,&uot; McGhee said.

McGhee said the district must find $264,561 to fund the teacher pay raises, as well as $26,600 to cover $700 raises for each of the district’s 38 assistant teachers.

Another $136,656 will be needed to pay increases in health insurance premiums for district employees, McGhee said.

But McGhee said no tax increases or layoffs would be necessary to offset the revenue shortfall. &uot;Because we didn’t have that much, it didn’t hurt us that much. You have to realize that out of a $5 million (Mississippi Adequate Education Program) budget, we got $19,000 over last year’s budget. Some districts got a minus,&uot; McGhee said.

Gov. Haley Barbour had suggested cutting MAEP funding by $161 million. But Legislators decided Sunday to trim only $45 million, lessening the impact on local school districts.

McGhee said the district will use the new state projections to compile its 2005 fiscal year budget. &uot;We were waiting on these figures to do the next year’s budget. We didn’t know what teacher pay was going to be. We didn’t know what MAEP was going to be,&uot; McGhee said.

Board members will hold a public hearing on the 2005 fiscal year budget June 29 at 10 a.m. The new fiscal year begins July 1.

In other action, the board voted to apply for a $125,000 Rural Utilities Grant and up to $250,000 through a federal grant program aimed at improving literacy through school libraries.