State budget cuts could impact school programs

Thursday, November 13, 2003

Nevada R-5 Superintendent Ted Davis said the A+ designation of the school district offers benefits to the school and its students, but the state's budget might impact the program's future.

Wednesday night during a regular monthly school board meeting, he discussed the district's A+ participation. Through the program, students agree to meet certain standards in high school, such as meeting a grade requirement. In exchange, students get a break on tuition to Missouri community colleges or technical schools.

"This has become almost routine, but it's not routine for the students that take advantage of it. We couldn't really leave this issue without some concerns. The A+ School program is one that gets discussed when talking about funding the foundation formula. We continue to be excited and supportive of the A+ program, it has been a springboard for many students," Davis said.

In an unrelated report, Gerry Johnson, special services director, gave the board an update on the upcoming special education monitoring, part of the Missouri School Improvement Program. Although the district has received a waiver from the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education federal regulations require special education reviews every five years regardless of the district's status with DESE.

Johnson returned from a seminar about the review and said it would take a team effort to meet the requirements. "We came back here and hit the ground running. This is a strong team effort, one person can't do this alone. We will be looking at 400 files, that's why it's such a team effort."

The board also received copies of the annual school district report, often called the district's report card. The report went over the schools enrollment, curriculum and administration and evaluated each. Included in the report was the district's achievement on the MAP tests, 100 out of 100, which resulted in the district again receiving the Accredited With Distinction designation.

Following Johnson's report, NAEDC Director Sam Foursha presented the board with information on firms that are locating or expanding here and how that might impact enrollment at the district's schools. Davis reminded the board that enrollment is down approximately 100 students from previous years and that state funding varied by $200,000 for every 50 students.

Davis updated the board on the current state of the budget and said that while the states gross revenue was up 1.8 percent the budget was based on growth of 5.4 percent and that failure to meet that projection might result in less funding than the state originally projected. Davis said that the district's budget took into account the possibility that the state would not provide 100 percent funding.

In other business the board:

* Approved revising and updating policies for the board's policy manual, a process that should be complete within two or three months.

* Declared three school buses as surplus property and directed they be put up for sale with a reserve price of $1,500.

* In executive session approved the employment of Jeremy Hamilton as a Computer Network Instructor.

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