Trustees Look At ’08 Budget

At the scheduled board meeting held on Tuesday, June 24, trustees accepted two resignations, and approved the hiring of four new faculty members.

Laura Buie, a middle school reading teacher, and Marcy Potts, a middle school TAKS and English teacher resigned.

The board approved the hiring of Jamie Hamrick, high school theatre arts; Pleet Olvera, high school Spanish; and Brandon Walters, head girls basketball coach. The board also approved the hiring of Brittany Biggie, a junior high TAKS and math teacher.

In other business, the board approved mandated changes to the 2008-2009 employee handbook.

A budget workshop followed the board meeting in anticipation of setting the stage for what could be a challenging budget year for the board.

"Due to the present school financing system put in place by House Bill 1 in the last legislative session, all public schools are working off of the same amount of revenue that they received in 2005-2006," explained superintendent Joe Oliver.

"With the cost of mandated salary increases, and the continued rise in fuel, utility and other operating costs, a very careful study of all budget areas will take place, not only this year, but for the foreseeable future until the system changes."

"We’re very limited in our ability to increase our operating funds," Oliver said.

The next scheduled school board meeting is for, Monday, July 14. Another budget workshop will be scheduled at that time.