By JIM BUTLER
What the School Board does next with Head Start will be discussed in committee Tuesday.
At its March meeting the board was asked by Superintendent Jeff Powell for direction in what it wishes to do — plug the dollar drain or bow out.
Board members appeared about equally divided and sent the matter to the Education Committee That panel, chaired by Linda Burgess, meets at 5 p.m. Tuesday. On its agenda are receiving a report from Powell on a corrective plan for Head Start and discussing possible action regarding continuation of the system’s role with Head Start.
At the March board meeting Powell said about $500,000 was needed to keep the program operating.
As pandemic-related one-time funding draws to a close the financial burden switches to the General Fund, itself facing an essentially flat Minimum Foundation Program allocation in the next fiscal year.
The committee will also discuss possibly realigning the Curriculum & Instruction Department “to better support student learning,” according to the agenda.
Also Tuesday afternoon:
Steve Berry’s Finance committee will hear from Powell on corrective action planning for school audits.
In its recent state audit report the board learned spot checks of some schools’ accounting practices, to be kind, left something to be desired.
Two other matters on the Finance list — board member Wilton Barrios seeks to direct Powell to study and report on the possibility of a pay raise for school secretaries and Sandra Franklin wants to direct the superintendent to ask the board attorney legal applications of what can and cannot be done to combine district maintenance funds.
She raised that issue at the February board meeting.
After Finance, Franklin’s District 62 Committee meets for an update on construction progress.
Also on the agenda is how to divvy up a premium received from the late March sale of the final $25 million in bonds of the district’s $100 million issue.
The premium, realized through the relatively low interest rate secured for the bonds, amounts to a bit north of $2 million.
The Personnel Committee session, chaired by Barrios, concludes the day’s meetings.