School board thanks voters for support

Nevada R-5 School District Superintendent David Stephens said he was grateful to see the results of the Nov. 3 election, in which R-5 patrons overwhelmingly supported continuing the one-half cent sales tax and tax levy that was first approved a decade ago. Stephens said he felt it was a vote of confidence in the district's handling of finances but one that district officials shouldn't take for granted.

"I take the results as a vote of confidence by the patrons, but it's also a call for accountability," Stephens said.

Stephens said the continuation of the money, approximately $1 million, was especially important for the district because of the state's continuing fiscal concerns.

"They anticipate a decrease of 4 percent in funding," Stephens said. "Chris Straub, (Missouri Association of School Administrators School Finance Consultant), thinks it will be closer to 5 percent. There is a potential for significant cuts in the career ladder and transportation programs."

Stephens said that he had anticipated the funding problems and used last year's revenue figures to prepare the district's budget.

"The cut puts everyone back to last years numbers," Stephens said. "I already had budgeted using last years numbers so we were ready."

Stephens said the district still had good balances in it's fund accounts but he wanted to try to maintain them during lean times.

"I was told that if you have good fund balances you will be in good shape," Stephens said. "I don't want to come here two years from now and not have good fund balances."

Stephens said that the state pays career ladder program funds after the year in which they were expended by the district, which could result in a reduction in reimbursement for funds already spent. Board member Larry Forkner said that said that he didn't like the uncertainty of the situation.

"For planning purposes we need to know what to expect," he said.

Teresa Stark, Nevada Regional Technical director, told the board there has been a reduction in the number of students other districts were sending. She said she was working to reverse the trend.

"Over the past three years there have been 50 to 75 fewer students from the sending schools," Stark said. "I have been looking at how we might work with them to increase their utilization."

Stark said the tech center had received some grants, the largest of which are the enhancement grant and the Perkins grant.

"The enhancement grant is usually a 75/25 or 50/50 match," Stark said. We received $59,000 from that. The Perkins grant is a 100 percent grant, there is no need to match it. We expected to receive $131,000 but the state had excess funds so we received $147,000."

Moving to another agenda item, Stephens told the board that the district also is continuing to pursue accreditation by the AdvancED program which would provide international accreditation for the district.

"When we're finished we will be able to say we're accredited by and international organization," Stephens said. "We would be one of only seven districts in the state that are."

Nevada High School Principal Thomas Moore said he had compiled some data on grades and it appeared girls were getting more A's as a group than boys were.

"I thought at first it was football but just as many girls are involved in sports as guys so that doesn't explain it," Moore said. "I don't have an explanation for it but it's something we need to look into."

In other business the board:

* Discussed plans for Graduation Matters, on partnering with the community.

* Discussed the evaluation process for the superintendent.

* Discussed the Missouri School Board Association meeting attended by three board members.