City schools mark end of NTI; approve a ‘lean’ budget for the coming school year
By JIM BROOKS
Nelson County Gazette / WBRT Radio
Tuesday, May 19, 2020 — With the city school district’s last day of Non-Traditional Instruction set for Wednesday, May 20, 2020, Superintendent Ryan Clark said he was extremely pleased with the quality of instruction the district’s teachers have accomplished.
Speaking at the board’s meeting Tuesday, Clark praised the work teachers have done under difficult circumstances.
“It’s gone very well under the circumstances, and I’ve very proud of the work they’ve done,” Clark said. “The feedback is overwhelmingly positive.”
2020-21 TENTATIVE BUDGET. Tracey Rogers, the district’s treasurer, introduced the district’s tentative budget. The tentative budget is the first step in the budgeting process for the 2020-21 school year.
The tentative budget “is a very conservative and lean budget,” she told the board.
Extras — like money for technology — has been taken out of the tenative budget.
“This budget is just to maintain the inventory we have,” Rogers said of the funds set aside for technology.
Despite the lean budget, it will includes step increases for teachers, which are salary increases based on a teacher’s years of experience.
Rogers told the board that the district’s tentative budget must go to the Kentucky Department of Education by May 31st.
The tentative budget is a working document that will be refined through the summer. The district will submit the second budget — the working budget — to state education officials by Sept. 1, 2020.
When asked about new positions the district will need to create for the new elementary school, Clark said no new jobs are expected to be created.
TEACHER RECOGNITION. The board of education recognized honors bestowed recently on several of its teachers.
Amy Kellum, Craig Frey and Melissa Peters were honored by Campbellsville University for Excellence in Teaching.
Felicia Rudolph, a teacher at the district’s early childhood center, was recently named the Central Kentucky Educational Cooperative’s Teacher of the Year.
NEW DUAL CREDIT OPPORTUNITY. The board approved an agreement with the University of Kentucky to offer college credit for dual credit courses the high school will offer. Right now the classes will be limitecd to one science and one math class.
“There’s a lot of potential for growth,” Clark said of the agreement. “I’m very excited about this opportunity for students.”
There will be no change of the district’s current dual credit opportunities, he said. The UK classes are an additional option for students.
In other business, the city schools board of education:
— approved a request to KDE to move its unused capital outlay funds to the district’s general fund. The move will allow the district to transfer $717,775 to the general fund budget.
— approved a contract with Summers, McCrary & Sparks, PSC, to conduct the district’s audit of fiscal year 2020. The district’s previous auditor, Stiles, Carter and Associates, has discontinued conducting school audits. The contract with the Lexington company pays them $13,500 for the first year of the three-year contract.
— approved an agreement to continue the district’s relationshwip with Cumberland Family Medical to provide medical services to the city school district. Cumberland will continue to offer the services it has for the past two years. Cumberland also will pay 60 percent of the salaries of the district’s two school nurses.
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