Hollister
– The San Benito High School Board of Trustees will discuss
budget priorities and student attendance at its meeting
tonight.
Hollister – The San Benito High School Board of Trustees will discuss budget priorities and student attendance at its meeting tonight.
Administrators from the high school will be presenting to the board proposed budget priorities for the 2007-2008 school year. This is one of the first steps in determining the actual breakdown of spending for next school year.
“It’s a broad overview of how we spend our money,” said Jim Koenig, director of finance and operations. “All our money should be used toward student achievement.”
The priority list is an outline of the district’s goals for the money. Included on this list are improving state testing scores and expanding the use of technology and recruitment.
“This is more something that you put in front of the board to ask them if they have any philosophical changes to the direction you went,” Superintendent Stan Rose said.
Evelyn Muro, the board clerk, said that the priorities could generate some discussion among the board because they are so similar to last year’s budget priorities.
“There might be some discussion of, ‘This looks similar, so what are we going to be doing different than last year? How is this going to play out?'” Muro said.
Koenig said he and other administrators have a working first draft of the budget, with some estimated numbers, but they won’t finalize it until May.
“This is the first step where we put everything we know about in (the budget), and we make a lot of assumptions,” Koenig said.
Because teacher contract negotiations recently started, the district couldn’t yet include any salary increases in the budget, he said.
The district will not have a finalized budget until after the state education budget is completed in May.
The board will also be presented with the average daily attendance rates for the school – which determines state funding for the district.
An increase in the San Benito High School average daily attendance rates for the first half of the year will be reported to the board at the meeting. The second reporting of the average daily attendance will occur on March 30, and will be discussed by the board in April.
Overall, the district saw an increase in average daily attendance over the previous year, from 2,875 to 2,900.
If this increase is repeated in the second reporting period, it would result in an increase in funding for the district. Each attendance unit is worth an estimated $6,000.
Alice Joy covers education for the Free Lance. She can be reached at 831-637-5566 ext. 336 or at aj**@fr***********.com.
