The Ozark School Board’s minutes from the August 22 meeting agenda and meeting minutes can be found at https://simbli.eboardsolutions.com/…/SB_MeetingListing…
You’ll have to look at both of them together to see the various documents referenced (for example, the new job description is referenced in the minutes, but it’s attached to the agenda; similarly with other documents like the corrected tax rate levy, the assistant superintendent reports on learning/curriculum and construction, and the Annual Secretary of the Board report to the state (which lists the District’s line-item expenditures), etc.)
I was glad that Dr. Wilson, the CFO, talked with me immediately after the meetings to state her agreement with my vote opposing the common but not useful practice of “zero-ing the accounts” to adjust the budget to match the actual expenditures. She assured me that, even though it’s a practice in some schools to do what I voted against (to change the budget at the end of the year to match what was actually spent), that she agreed it was not helpful in determining how to better set the budget for future years — and that she was not recommending using that practice again in the future.
Lastly, I am including a picture of a statement (to follow the links, see the entry “Statement on Tax Levy”) which I made explaining my vote against setting the levy the way it was set. Some misinformation was spread that I reportedly had asked about defunding some programs or even lowering the district’s income. As you’ll see when you read my statement, the school still receives an increase in funding, but the law requires us to limit it to a cap of 5%. I had written a request to the CFO to give us some scenarios of expected revenue increases so the Board had the needed information to consider the options of how much increase would still be received if we indeed capped that increase like we were supposed to do.
For the record, I’m repeating below why I believe all taxpayers have a vested interest, a NEED, if you will, to ensure that our schools are the best-funded, most-highly-supported public entities — and it’s also why I invested the last 28 years of my life teaching in publicly-funded education:
These kids, our own or not, are the ones who will be making decisions soon about the direction our community and country goes. They need to be able to reason and analyze and investigate.
Those students are also the ones who will be inventing and discovering the next piece of technology or life-saving procedure. They need to be able to explore and and formulate and extrapolate.
I truly believe that our public schools ought to be our best-funded institutions. We just have to ensure they’re using the money wisely.
**Please note that all thoughts and opinions expressed by me are my own.
I speak solely for myself and do not intend to represent the Board to you in any way in anything I say.
I do, however, fully intend to do my job representing YOU to the board! 😉