Kevin L. Green
The Rush County Schools Board of Trustees met earlier this week. Among business discussed and acted on was the budget for 2009.
Superintendent of schools Dr. John Williams made a PowerPoint presentation detailing the process involved.
He explained there are two primary elements: revenue and expenditures.
According to Williams, roughly 60 percent of the corporation’s funds come from the state, 35 percent from local property taxes, and the remaining 5 percent from miscellaneous sources.
That money is split among the General Fund, Capital Projects Fund, Debt Service Fund, Transportation Fund, Bus Replacement Fund and the Pre-school Special Education Fund.
The board was reminded that once advertised and approved budget numbers could be lowered but they cannot be increased.
Nothing was decided this week, but here’s an overview of the timeline involved.
n July 29: Board budget work session.
n Aug. 5: Board considers authorizing the authority to advertise the budget.
n Aug. 19 and 27: Budget legal advertisements are published in the Rushville Republican.
n n Sept. 2: Public hearing on the budget takes place.
n Sept. 16: School board meets to consider final approval of the budget.
By law, the budget must be finalized and approved at the local level no later than Sept. 30.
Williams also discussed several changes that are in the works regarding how Indiana public school’s budgets are formulated, approved and implemented.
He clearly was not happy about some of those coming changes.
“It’s just my personal opinion, but I believe the governor’s plan is to dismantle public education as we know it,” Williams said. There were several nods of agreement from board members.
In other news, the board
n received a copy of a conflict of interest form required by the state;
n approved the first reading of changes to the corporation’s policy manual;
n agreed to conduct a board retreat July 16 in addition to meeting for a special work session;
n accepted a $10,000 donation from the Rush County Booster Club to Rushville Consolidated High School; and,
n approved an overnight field trip request for the RCHS cross country team.
See upcoming editions of the Rushville Republican for other school board news.
Kevin L. Green can be contacted at (765) 932-2222 ext. 108 or via e-mail at kevin.green@indianamediagroup.com. Add a comment to this story at www.rushvillerepublican.com.
