The Choctaw County School District has worked for the past few years to lessen the expense of parents by taking on the burden of the dreaded school supply list, worked to keep ad valorem taxes low, while giving their students the best instruction they can.
Thursday, June 15, the district held a budget hearing about the upcoming fiscal year budget that begins July 1.
The district is not asking for a change in the ad valorem amount. They’re asking for the same amount as they received last year.
“We’re not asking for any more than what we got,” Superintendent Glen Beard said.
Last year, the district operated with a budget of $27,254,987.12 and 29.12 percent or $7,956,317.13 of that was obtained through ad valorem tax. The next fiscal year, the district will operate on $25,370,138.21, a difference of $1.8 million.
The district is projecting that $8,263,555.40 or 32.57 percent of that be obtained through ad valorem tax.
The difference between the current fiscal year’s ad valorem amount and this upcoming fiscal year’s ad valorem amount is $307,238.09. The district is down by $2 million because ESSER funds are nearing the end.
Beard said of the $25 million the district will operate on; 44.75 percent comes from local contribution or $11,352,000. 35 percent or $8,000,000 comes from the state, 18.9 percent or $4,000,000 comes from federal funding and Sixteenth section brings in 1.33 percent of $337,000.
He said the district has major expenditures of $36,000,000 and the largest part of that is instruction.
“Which should be the largest part, that’s what we’re here for,” Beard said.
He said in Capital Projects the district had $13.8 million which subtracted from the $36 million gives the total of $22 million.
“That puts us coming in the black by $2.9 million,” he said.
He said the major functions include salaries and fringes, which is the biggest portion. He said an issue the district has and has been carefully watch is fuel prices.
And he said with the rising prices, school supplies have gone up but they are continuing to work to keep the cost down.
“You know when you walk in Walmart and see the school supply list that are long, where you’re spending $100 or more. We’ve kept that off parents and that’s helped pocketbooks,” he said.
“If you go in their now, it’ll probably cost you about $200-$250.”
Beard also updated the board on several construction projects that are ongoing. The biggest project being the new stadium. In the last board meeting, David Calvert with Machado and Patano said the concession stand was close to being finished.
During the budget hearing, Beard showed the board pictures of the current progress. In the pictures you can see an outline of where the new football field will be, the concession stand that’s under construction and the progress so far.
“That’s where the bleachers will be,” he pointed to the west side of the stadium, “And the locker rooms will be under the bleachers.”
He also said they’re doing HVAC work at Choctaw County High School and Weir Elementary. “They’re taking out the resort style air conditioners,” he said.
He said they’re also doing HVAC at Ackerman Elementary and closing in the second-grade corridor for safety purposes.
Beard also said they’re in the process of completing the window project at CCHS.
He also said that even though the legislature changed the formula of the MAEP, it’s not fully funded. It’s funded by 97.7 percent. And the district still has a $194,000 shortfall.
“But we’ve gotten more than we’ve ever gotten before,” Beard said. He said as the legislature works to change the formula, the district will be watching for the next fiscal year because they’re not sure how it will play out.
He said as a bright spot, the district fared well with the third grade reading gate. “We were in the Top 17 and we’re excited about that,” he said. “Only 12 students in the district didn’t pass it on the first try and six of those 12 passed it on the retake, so that’ll be good for us in the fall.”
Beard said for the district to still land in the Top 20 out of 139 district, shows that students and teachers in the district are working hard.
The district is also in the process of rotating out Chromebooks. “We’re doing two grades per school,” he said. The district has also worked to make the internet and bandwidth faster, and work to keep their bus fleet updated.
“All our buses are air conditioned,” he said. “When I came into the district, it was not like that”
And Beard said the district is also debt-free. He said the district still has the loan they’re using for the second-grade corridor and they’re almost complete with paying off their three mill note.
Trustee Clint Huffman asked if the goal was still to hold the Class of 2024 graduation in the new stadium.
“So far, that’s still the plan,” he said. Beard said the new stadium should near completion, depending on the weather, between January or February of 2024.
Trustees Becky Orr and Ommie Ashford, who were both educators said for them, to see the progress of not only the district but the strides that education has taken as a whole amazes them.
“When I look back at 1967, there were no air conditioned buses. And to see that we’ve come so far, that’s amazing to me,” Orr said.
“When I first got on the board and I went to the meeting, they were telling us about districts that were in the red, I said ‘Oh Lord, what have I gotten into?’” Ashford said. But, she said to know the district is working to keep down cost and stay afloat is amazing.
And board members admitted, even they questioned where the funding for the stadium would come from but commended the district the for the hard work it continues to do.
Beard said that’s because of Kenny Clark. “The work he’s done is unbelievable,” he said.
He also commended Shawna Brooks for the work she did and does to prepare for board meetings, the slideshow for the budget hearing, and the work she continues to do.
Editor’s Note: The board approved the new budget on Thursday, June 22. The recap of that meeting will be in next week’s paper.
