Decatur County School System employee paychecks will be a little larger next year. 

Thursday night, the Decatur County Board of Education passed a fiscal year 2015 budget that includes no employee furlough days. The upcoming school year will the first in the last several years that furloughdays are not included in the budget.

The budget plans for total general fund revenues of $38.19 million and $38.43 million in general fund expenses. The $249,000 variance will be covered from the system’s fund balance that stands at just over $4 million.

Because of the removal of the furlough days, the school calendar changed to include five more instructional days.

The first day of school for students is August 1 and the fall break holiday this year will be three days, October 6-8. Students willcontinue to be out of school for the entire week of Thanksgiving and the Christmas break will be December 19 through January 6.

The board also voted unanimously to increase the compensation of superintendent Dr. Fred Rayfield. The locally paid supplement earned by Rayfield will increase $14,593 annually, making his total annual salary $163,572.

“Dr. Rayfield has been here four years, has doneexceptionally well, and we are extremely proud of him. He is recognized allthroughout the community and all over the state for his quality of work,” said board chairman Dr. Sydney Cochran. “This increase of the local supplement reaches the level that we paid the previous superintendent.”

The board also voted to insert a clause into Rayfield’s contract that would increase his salary by two percent each year in years that the State of Georgia does not award a cost of living pay increase. Should the state’s cost of living raise be less than two percent in any particular year, an additional supplement would be awarded so that the minimum increase would equal two percent.

The board also voted to move the July meeting to the fourth Thursday of the month, July 24, rather than the customary third Thursday of the month.