Ronan schools superintendent must justify bus budget
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Editor,
In February of 2013 Trustees of School District No. 30, Ronan, adopted a Strategic Plan that is intended to provide a blueprint for the District to follow as it moves into the future.
One component of the Strategic Plan states in part: “We (the District) will provide education to staff, parents, and community on school funding and the budgeting process. We will host community forums for the purpose of engaging the community and for the purpose of sharing information.”
At present, the District has not begun work to fulfill this pledge to the community that comprises School District No. 30. I have requested that the Superintendent and Board Chairman place on the agenda for the November Board meeting a presentation and discussion of the District’s Transportation and Bus Depreciation funds. The District adopted a Fiscal Year 2013-2014 amount of about $1,146,000 to support these two funds. This money comes from a permissive levy assessed to District property tax payers. In other words, the Superintendent and District Clerk who prepare the budget, tell the County Superintendent of Schools how much money they want for these two budgets, the County Superintendent of Schools determines the mils needed, and the amount gets added to District property tax bills.
A reasonable expectation of the Superintendent is that he justify spending $1,146,000 to operate less than 20 bus routes. The Superintendent has often stated that he is proud of the fact that the District has not gone to taxpayers for a voted levy for several years. That is true, but the Superintendent has certainly used the permissive levy to generate dollars from District taxpayers.
Hopefully, a discussion of these funds will be on the next Board agenda. Taxpayers deserve to know how this money is being spent.
Gale Decker
Ronan
