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NORTH MANCHESTER - Although the newest bank statements have yet to arrive, Manchester Community Schools Business Manager Steve Shumaker said there was "good news" Tuesday night at the first school board meeting of the year.
Shumaker said the balance in the general fund has almost doubled since this time last year. The figures will come in around $767,000 this year. Last year at this time the budget was about $400,000.
"We are current on everything we can be current on at this time," Shumaker said. "We are going into the new year not owing anybody anything."
Shumaker attributed the successful increase in funds to the joint efforts of everyone in the Manchester School System.
"When you look at what we were abe to do, we need to thank several groups," said Shumaker. "The board's willingness to make changes helped. ... The administrators played a big part in monitoring budgets. ... The teachers' willingness to negotiate and wait until we knew more.
"We looked at things differently this year. We did more analysis than before. All this put us in a better position for the future."
"Everybody was impacted by this (budget cut)," said Manchester Community Schools Superintendent Diana Showalter. "We survived it and will continue to do so. Our cash balances are finally going up instead of down."
In other business, the board:
• Approved overnight professional leave for Larry Dockter and Paige Davidson to go to the Indiana Music Educators Annual Conference in Indianapolis Jan 14-15.
• Approved an overnight field trip for Gwen Mize and the FFA officers to attend the Leadership Development Workshop Camp in Trafalger Jan. 14-16.
• Approved Sunday activity for the musical "Working" at Manchester High School Jan. 16.
• Approved the request for two grants. The first is a Title 2 grant for $3,919 for NWEA assessment, collecting and analyzing data to inform and enhance teaching and school improvement efforts. The second is a Title V grant for $7,965 for professional development for certified mentor training.
Manchester school board members are Sally Krouse, president, Todd Speicher, Thom Frantz, Kent Terrill, Brian Schilling, Carlye McLaughlin and Brad Perrott. Superintendent is Diana Showalter.
