Whitko Holds Budget Hearing, Discusses Upcoming ReferendumPIERCETON - The Whitko School Board approved the corporation's 2011 capital projects and bus replacement plan Monday night after a hearing on the 2011 budget.
Before its regular meeting Monday night, the board held a hearing to discuss 2011 figures.
Capital projects and bus replacement funds are paid for through property taxes and can't be used to pay for payroll.
The budget will be approved at the board's October meeting.
Superintendent Steve Clason gave an update on the school's pending tax referendum that will be on the Nov. 2 ballot.
On June 21, the school board moved that the referendum question be placed on the ballot.
The corporation is looking for voters to vote yes on the referendum.
Clason said the budget is balanced for 2011 and the school will receive money from a recently passed federal jobs bill.
"We need this to pass especially for future years," said Clason.
Clason noted the corporation has a declining enrollment, which causes a loss of revenue.
Clason pointed to a drop in enrollment for full-day kindergarten.
"Unlike a place like Warsaw that puts $2 million in a rainy day fund, we don't have $2 million and we don't have a rainy day fund," he said.
Clason said with the budget the way it is, it will become harder for the school to fulfill its goals of differentiated curriculum for its students.
Clason pointed to a lack of funding for Project Lead The Way.
"If we want to increase ISTEP scores to go from the mid 70s to the mid 80s, we have to invest capital," said Clason.
A public meeting on the referendum proposal will be held Oct. 5 at the Whitko High School Auditorium in South Whitley. The meeting starts at 6:30 p.m. and child care will be provided.
Whitko High School Principal Parrish Kruger informed the board that the school won the all-sports trophy for boys sports for the 2009-2010 season.
He also reminded the board that representatives from Ford will be on hand Saturday to give test drives to people. For everyone who takes a test drive, Ford will donate money to the school.
Money is limited to one person per individual address.
Kruger also blocked out one-hour times for the middle school and elementary schools to earn money.
Kruger said the money earned will go to fund scholarships.
Clason also gave a review of a workshop held Saturday by the school board to set goals.
The two goals that came out of that meeting were in the areas of communication and instructional plan.
In terms of communication, Clason said it comes down to doing a better job of promoting Whitko Schools and better using things like blogs and social networking to get the message out.
With instructional plan, it is a continuation of a five-year plan adopted by the board in January.
Clason said it's important to get more resources into early grades.
"How do we make sure all kids are at grade level by grade three?" said Clason. "The research is pretty clear that if a student passes ISTEP in third grade they'll pass it forever."
"We don't want to be status quo," said board president Terry Eberly. "We're not a huge school, but we're a diamond."
In other business, the board approved personnel items though Eberly and board member Roger Boggs abstained because of family members being a part of the agenda.
