I'm sorry this is so late getting written. I have been very busy. The agenda was pretty short with the anticipation of a lengthy discussion about the proposed levy. Which didn't happen.
Casey reviewed our evaluation of the Superintendent we did last month. We all thought he is doing a good job considering the demands we place on him. Hopefully the time will come where he won't have to be the elementary principal in addition to his superintendent responsibilities. We voted to extend his contract another year. So he has a three year contract, which is common for superintendents.
Mr. Tubbs provided us with a budget update. In every category it appears as if we are on track with our budget projections.
Casey and Mr. Tubbs then presented a power point about the levy. I think they will have it posted to the school website if you wish to look at it. I wrote about it a couple months ago, so I won't go into the details again. After the power point Casey opened it up for questions. I made a couple extra points. It has been brought up that we have over $700,000 in our contingency fund, so why are we asking for more money. The Auditor recommended we maintain a contingency to cover three months of our operating expenses. This amount is only two months. It was also pointed out Aberdeen only has about a $100,000 contingency. They are about the same size as we are. I said they depend on continually passing a $600,000 annual supplemental levy. This seems pretty risky to me. Since we haven't had a supplemental to fall back on like they do, we have really needed to maintain as much in our contingency as possible. So we haven't spent money on some things that we really need. Our projected budget will spend about $150,000 of our contingency. So even with the levy it will still be hard to maintain our contingency without more state funding. We have no way of knowing what the state will do, but in recent history they haven't restored much funding back to us. I believe it was said two thirds of the states school districts depend on supplemental levies. We don't have plans to continue a levy after this two year levy. But if the state doesn't fund us better going forward, we might need to ask for another one in the future. I think the levy will help a lot toward catching us up on much needed curriculum and technology. There was some questions about our curriculum plans. Our history books go back to President Clinton's first term.
There was some discussion about the elementary. Like how much longer it would last and if we felt like it was worth spending so much to update the heating and cooling system. Other than some cosmetic issues it's very sound. I think it will last a long time. I said we would like to keep improving it. I for example would like to see us put in cold weather entries especially in the front to help keep the cold out and provide a place for kids to go into if the building isn't opened yet when they come. The building is 51 years old, but the only area we have had roof leaks is on the end that was built in 1991. I also pointed out another reason districts build new buildings is because of being overcrowded. We have several extra classrooms so that isn't an issue either. I honestly think it will last at least another twenty years, and probably longer. I have heard of some people wanting us to consider plans to replace it. I wouldn't support any plan to build a new building.
We then approved our school closure for cold weather. Our seniors would have a hard time missing anymore class time. If we have anymore closures they might need to come in on a Friday.
We then went into executive session to discuss the Principal evaluations.
If you have any questions or comments please let me know. I really think we need this supplemental levy. It won't raise taxes, and will help us comply with the common core requirements and testing needs. It will also greatly improve the elementary heating and cooling. Computers and kids would really like bing kept cooler when it's hot outside. Thanks, Brian
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