Budgetary matters will be at the forefront of Monday night’s Sedalia School District 200 Board of Education meeting.
Board members are expected to vote on the final budget amendments for the 2016-17 school year as well as taking a vote on the preliminary 2107-18 budget.
“We came in with budget for 2016-17 that is not balanced because our revenues came in above projections,” Superintendent Brad Pollitt told the Democrat on Thursday morning, “Two of the biggest reasons were that revenue was up.
“The basic formula was up because of our increase in enrollment and the Prop C sales tax came in higher than we had projected,” Pollitt explained. “But we were also careful to limit our expenditures through careful planning and our bidding process.”
Pollitt also gave credit to the work of all of the district’s administrators as well as Chief Financial Officer Dr. Harriet Wolfe as factors in the balanced budget.
“Our administrators are doing a good job of staying within their individual programs or building budgets,” Pollitt commented. “CFO Dr. Harriet Wolfe does an excellent job of overseeing our district expenditures and making sure we receive all the appropriate revenues.”
The preliminary working budget that will be presented to the board at the meeting is balanced, Pollitt added.
The board is also slated to vote on the nominations to the Academic, Activity and Athletic Halls of Fame.
“We had some really good candidates nominated this year,” Pollitt explained. “But we still need to see more nominations to both the Academic and Activity Halls of Fame.
“All those nominated were great candidates and because we can only accept three nominations per hall each year we had to turn some nominations to the Athletic Hall down this year,” he added. “That leaves us with a great start for next year but we still continue to struggle to receive nominations for the other two halls.”
Pollitt added that once again this year, there were no nominations to the Academic Hall.
If approved upon by the board, the names of those accepted into the 2017-18 Hall of Fame class will be released for publication in Tuesday’s edition of the Democrat.
The board will also hear reports from the health services program and the at-risk program supports as well as the attendance report and quarterly building reports.
The only item for discussion listed in the board packet is one the district considers annually: the Discipline Code Handbook.
“Every child residing within our district has the right to a free and appropriate public education,” Pollitt said. “But we are seeing more and more violent tendencies by children at a younger age.
“The goal is not to suspend or punish more children, but we are frustrated by the violent tendencies we are seeing such as hitting, and biting students and teachers,” he explained. “The committee spent an unbelievable amount of time being more consistent in addressing these behaviors across the different age groups.”
Board members will also recognize those students who participated in spring sports and activities during the meeting.
The board meeting will begin at 6:30 p.m. in the Heckart Performing Arts Center at Smith Cotton High School, 2010 Tiger Pride Blvd. For more information, call the central office at 829-6450.
