The DeLeon ISD Board of Trustees met on August 7 for what will be the first of two meetings for the month. The Board’s focus for this meeting was a review and discussion of the 2006-2007 budget.

Following approval of the consent agenda for the month of August, the Board was then given a presentation by Dr. Randy Mohundro, Superintendent, of various aspects of the budget. Dr. Mohundro began by presenting district goal areas for the coming school year. He explained that the budget priorities and decisions should be focused on the needs and the direction that the district was now heading. Goals areas for the coming year include:

• Raising the district accreditation rating to Exemplary

• Increased parent and community involvement

• Increased attendance for areas of the district and decreasing student drop outs

• Improvement in the areas of reading and writing

• College readiness and increased college opportunities for student

• High quality staff development

• Quality service to special population areas.

Dr. Mohundro then provided an overview of revenue flow for the district for the coming school year. Beginning with the local tax base the 2006 certified values were presented. The district has seen an increase in its tax base, growing from $115,944,808 in 2005 to $125,243,791 in 2006. The tax base as presented did not include those properties whose values have been frozen, which provides an additional $111, 644 in revenue.

A review of the new school finance program was then presented. Mohundro explained that for planning purposes, all numbers used for the coming school year are the numbers that district ended with for the 2005-2006 school year. Given the stabilization of student enrollment, no increase or decrease was forecasted for the coming school year.

An explanation of the new formulas for determining the local compressed property tax was then detailed. For 2005-06 the maintenance and operation tax rate for the district was $1.3308 per $100 of value. The compressed rate for the district for the 2006-07 tax year based on recent passed legislation is $1.1800. Mohundro then went on to explain that for the district to receive all available state funding that the actual tax rate needed would be $1.2200, reduction of $0.11 from the previous year.

The $0.04 difference between the compressed rate and the recommended tax rate is a result of the state’s new system that requires the district to maximize its tax effort at the local level to receive all available state monies.

“While the $0.04 will generate approximately $50,000 in local revenue, it will generate approximately $120,000 in additional state money, which is a sizeable amount of money to leave on the table,” explained Mohundro.

When asked why the district should not raise the tax by $0.05 instead of the $0.04, it was explained that the state will only equalize the first $0.04 and that anything above the $0.04 would force the district to hold a rollback election. The $0.04 is what benefits the district the greatest. Mohundro also explained that those districts that taxed below the compressed rate would see an actual decrease in the amount of state money they received due to having a low tax effort.

Mohundro then covered the new state funding formulas. Under the formulas the district will receive the same amount of money per student that it received in 2005-06. It was also noted that even when the state compresses tax rates again next year, the district will continue to receive the same per student amount as it did in 2005-06, with the state providing additional revenue for the new compressed tax rate, as long as the district continues to maximize its local taxing effort.

A review of the expenditure portion of the budget was then presented. The sizeable increase in district’s expenditures comes in the area of salaries. The district is required by the state to provide a $2,500 salary increase to all teachers, librarians, and school counselors, and a $250 increase for all support personnel over their 2005-2006 salary. The state provides the funding for these salary increases. In connection with this mandated salary increase, a new local salary scale was reviewed. The new scale would provide a salary increase for district employees, and provide a local supplement for all professional employees.

In other areas of the budget, except for personnel cost, costs were held constant or decreased. An exception to this was seen in the budgets for district libraries. Funds were provided in the new budget to allow for additional library books to be purchased for the coming school year. “A problem that we have,” noted elementary principal Judd Gibson, “is that our students have run out of books to read that they have not already read.” The budget allows for all collections to increase.

The district will also receive an additional $49,500 in state monies to be used to help high school students become better prepared to enter college. The district will provide tuition assistance for any high school senior interested in obtaining college credit this coming school year. Twelve hours of college courses will be offered in the district via distance learning and onsite instruction during the coming year. The district will also use the funding to improve the high school library for students to work on their writing and research skills.

The area of technology would see funds of approximately $50,000 allocated for their update and support. Approximately $42,000 of these funds come from federal and dedicated state funds with only $8,000 in local funds being used for technology.

All federal programs were reviewed with the administration showing that all federal monies were being maximized for the district’s greatest benefit.

Following the presentation of both the revenue and expenditure portion of the budget, the administration recommended that the Board adopt a proposed tax rate of $1.2492, per $100 of value, composed of a maintenance and operation tax of $1.22 and an interest and sinking tax rate of $0.0292. The proposed tax rate is $0.1108 lower than 2055-2006. The Board voted unanimously to propose the rate as recommended.

The Board will meet on August 28 to formally adopt the 2006-07 budget and the 2006-07 tax rate at a special meeting for that purpose.

In other business the administration updated the Board on the flooring project at the high school. Asbestos has been identified and the project has been put on hold. Currently the asbestos is contained and not a hazard, however, to remove it will incur additional cost. The district is currently having its asbestos plan updated to insure that any asbestos in the district has been properly identified. The next opportunity to remove the flooring will occur during semester break in December.

The Board approved the recommendation of the administration to employ Kelly Shelton as elementary counselor and Kara Werner as a speech therapist for the special education cooperative.

The Board was invited to participate in opening school activities during staff development beginning next Monday, August 14.