Budget Factoid:
The Board will receive the administration's proposed budget on Thursday, April 20. The budget will comply with the state revenue caps and will incorporate close to $8 Million in cuts.

The Board will start our consideration of the budget on April 24 (after new Board members are sworn in) with a presentation by the administration. This is just the beginning of the process. Board members will have questions, will ask for additional information and schedule forums to hear from the public.

Board members are likely to propose amendments to make changes in the budget but it is important to remember that any change that a Board member wants must be offset by a cut somewhere in the budget.

April 3rd Meeting

5 p.m. Special Board Meeting Executive Session:
negotiation strategy for unions representing non-teacher employees.

6 p.m. Finance and Operations (Johnny Winston, Jr., chair):
Report from the Advertising and Sponsorship Subcommittee which recommended that the Board accept advertising and sponsorships providing such advertising/sponsorship: 1) is not directly targeted at students; 2) does not promote use of alcohol, drugs or weapons; 3) does not promote unhealthy food choices; and 4)does not promote ethical standards that are deemed unacceptable by the community. Bill Keys proposed that to include with this list a prohibition of advertising that is political in nature. The Committee accepted the entire report with Bill's addition and has asked the Board's legal counsel to put the report into the form of a Board policy for consideration by the entire Board.

The Board had requested information from the administration about going paperless. The administration provided an analysis which indicates the possibility of a net savings of about $9,000/year. This would involve having each Board member have a laptop (eliminating the need for home visits from tech supports) with a high speed connection (eliminating the delivery of hard copies of information) and a quality printer. Board members had some questions and deferred action until we had more information.

7:15 p.m. REGULAR BOARD MEETING
A number of students in the district's ESL/Bilingual programs came to request a change in the district's policy forbidding excused absences for a political event unless the Superintendent approves. After considerable discussion, the Board agreed to hold a meeting later in the week to decide whether to revise the policy. (This meeting was scheduled for Thursday at 5 p.m. and then cancelled when it became clear that a state law gave parents the right to excuse their child from school by submitting a written request. The Board's policy will now be revised to conform with that state law.)