Menu
TOP STORY OF THE DAY - Clay Community School Board FINANCIAL OUTLOOK: In Good Shape
Director of Business Affairs John Szabo presented a report to the Clay Community School Board of Trustees Thursday night during the monthly meeting.
“Mr. Szabo is in charge of the $52,375,500 school budget, one of the largest budgets in Clay County,” President Tom Reberger told the crowd. “And we are in good hands.”
During the annual financial report, Szabo said the budget is based on the assessed value of property taxes.
Szabo explained the CCSC has tried to maintain a ratio of .90 cents per $100 of assessed value.
“Our county is blessed when it comes to this assessed valuation, our tax rate because we have a mixture of residential, commercial, and agricultural property that is taxed at slightly different levels,” said Szabo. “Whereas some corporations might rely solely on residential, for example, and lose a lot of money to property tax caps. That affects their school corporations and the revenue they can generate there.”
Another key to the budget is student enrollment.
“Fortunately, we were able to have the highest total enrollment since 2019,” Szabo said. “So actually, since before COVID, our numbers have kind of slowly climbed, getting back up there. But there is still room for some growth.”
Szabo said the annual balances can be a little misleading, there are negatives balances in the budget.
“These are reimbursement grants. So we spend the money first, then apply back for reimbursement,” said Szabo. “The state was just frankly behind on approval of the grants for this year. So, I sat on a large deficit for the first four or five months of the school year while they approved it. It was nothing that our staff did wrong. It’s just the state was backlogged and didn’t get those approvals out.”
The budget currently shows the corporation is $410,000 in debt because of the reimbursement grants.
“That’s already been filed for reimbursement once they send the approval; we should get that money any day now to kind of balance that out. That’s just kind of the way it goes,” Szabo said. “You always run some form of the deficit because it is always a few weeks behind on the reimbursement.”
As for the state of the budget, Szabo said, “Overall, I’m very pleased where we are.”
In other business:
Donation of Codable Readers
The donation of supplemental reading material for grades k-3 by the Scottish Rite Valley of Terre Haute was questioned by Board Member Cheryl Schopmeyer. Schopmeyer wanted to know if it was normal policy to accept materials that have logos that recognize the group and from religious organizations.
Reberger explained that donations like this were accepted from other religious groups in the past. “So yes, this was a normal practice.”
The donation was approved in a vote of 4/1, with two board members unavailable to attend the meeting.
Supervisor of Transportation
The Board approved Tom Metz as the new Supervisor of Transportation. Alvin Nation was also welcome as a new bus driver.
Purchase Internet Access & Additional Fiber Connection
The Board approved Bill Milner, Director of Technology, request to bid for Internet access and additional fiber connection to set up a second headed site at the technology office. Milner will be bidding from Zayo for the Dark Fiber option and accept the bid from ENA for the 8 Gbps for 36 months. The project will only proceed if e-rate funding is received.
Agriculture in the Classroom Elementary School Program
The Board again approved Farm Bureau’s “Agriculture in the Classroom” program for first- and third-grade students this year. Stephanie Schopmeyer from Schopmeyer Ag will lead the program.
Food Service Facility Memorandum
The Board approved the annual agreement between CCSC and Clay County Justice Center, requesting a state-certified food service facility for the center in case of an emergency.
The Clay Community School Board of Trustees meets in monthly sessions on the second Thursday of each month at 7 p.m. at the Central Administrative Office, 1013 South Forest Avenue.
