by Dr. Rick Timbs
As we begin our work to secure final Board of Education approval for a budget and tax cap put before the voters, let us keep the following in mind:
• We should use the new CRSSA and ARPA federal grants to both supplement and supplant the budget to help students get back on track with their learning, improve the school districts academic success and support efforts to secure funds to battle inflationary services such as contractual and fixed costs of every school district.
• We need to develop long-range plans through thoughtful and careful analysis of not just past trends but what we can discern from our current situation that will inform us about future trends. The way these new trends materialize will determine the financial health of the school district into the future.
• Long-range plans must include the big-ticket items. Those items include and are not limited to:
- contractual obligations in labor contracts, supplies and equipment,
- the need for continuous and robust programs taken by students and promulgated by staff and the professional development that goes with it,
- transportation systems including buses and/or contract busing and leases,
- capital improvement needs aligned with debt service, capital reserves and the tax cap,
- securing fund balances as rainy-day funds,
- efforts to reallocate resources to meet the needs of the changing demographics of students and the community, and
- the relative degree that school districts can count on the continuation of every type of state aid support.
• The financial health of the school district into the future will determine its programs and the level of academic success of the children under its charge. It will also secure the relationship between the school district and the community it depends upon for support.
• The financial condition of the district is the gas that runs the school district engine, and the price of gas is escalating fast everywhere.
• The financial condition of the district is the gas that runs the school district engine, and the price of gas is escalating fast everywhere.
• We need to develop long-range plans through thoughtful and careful analysis of not just past trends but what we can discern from our current situation that will inform us about future trends. The way these new trends materialize will determine the financial health of the school district into the future.
The statewide budget and board member vote is Tuesday, May 21, 2024
