Story originally printed in the Winona Daily News or online at www.winonadailynews.com
Published - Thursday, June 12, 2008
School Board to meet today to discuss budget
The Winona Area Public School Board will meet today, after a month-long break to discuss a 256 page agenda with over 150 pages of new business.
The end of the school year means it is time to discuss summer projects, next year’s issues and, perhaps most importantly, budgets.
Included in the agenda is an initial budget for the 2008-09 school year. Projected expenses for the year are approximately $49.4 million for the district, while projected revenue is estimated at $47.7 million, lowering district-fund balances by approximately $1.6 million to a little over $5 million total.
Included in the budget revenues is an increase of about $200,000 in state funding, said Jeff Seeley, director of fiscal affairs for the district. The late boost of $51 per pupil in state aid was added at the end of this year’s legislative session.
Compared to the final budget update of the 2007-08 school year, the initial budget revenue totals are about $770,000 less, while budget expenses are about $770,000 more.
Seeley said a more detailed budget will be available at today’s meeting.
The board will also receive proposals for property and liability insurance, along with worker compensation insurance, both currently provided by Berkley Risk Administrators.
Winona Senior High School principal John Phelps will present a review of a high school grading scale that the board asked Phelps to implement last year. Previously, teachers determined their own grading scale, so that one teacher could say 90 percent on a test was an A, while another could require a 95. The high school now uses a uniform grading scale.
Phelps will also ask the board to discuss whether WSHS should select valedictorians and salutatorians again, a practice eliminated several years ago.
Several small items scatter the points of business as well, including a request to approve next year’s Misato, Japan, trip, and an information session on an approved trip to China this summer. The trip to a summer Chinese language program in Changsha, China, was approved last board meeting. The travel cost would be $2,500 for both adults and students, but a donation by local businesses should offset some of those costs.
The board meets at 6 p.m. Thursday in the Council Chambers at City Hall. The public is invited to speak at the beginning of the meeting.
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