School Sets Millage Rate; Adopts Budget

By superadmin | July 20, 2023 |

The Jasper County Board of Education has set the millage rate at 14.010 for FY24 on Tuesday, July 18 in a unanimous 5-0 vote. All board members were in attendance for the monthly meeting.

This comes after months of deliberation, with Supt. Kenny Garland considering a number of options in what would be the best solution. Mr. Garland recommended the figure of 14.010, a partial rollback, in order to not lose potential revenue. A full rollback would set the millage rate at under 14 mils, which would cost the board $360,384 in revenue. Additionally, Mr. Garland stressed that taking a full rollback would cause the school system to lose equalization funding provided by the state. This funding has been key to the school system for close to 20 years.

Three public hearings were offered for citizens comments about the budget. The first meeting was held on July 6, where one citizen spoke and another mailed in. The second and third hearings were on July 18 with one in the morning, and another at the time of the scheduled business meeting. There were no citizens comments during this time, however, one concerned citizen met with Mr. Garland privately following the morning meeting. It is unclear what was discussed.

Additionally, the budget for FY24 has been approved in a unanimous 5-0 vote. The approved budget has a figure of $38,276,256 in total revenues, along with $40,722,162 in total expenditures.

Following the budget and tax presentations, Mr. Garland discussed the many renovations happening at both the primary school and at Washington Park Elementary School.

Mr. Garland stated that the primary school project is going well, and rooms will start being moved into by the beginning of next week. A slide show was presented with many before/after photos showing the many changes that have occurred. Director of Facilities and Maintenance, Robbie Key also provided comments about the primary school saying that “it looks like a new school.” Mr. Garland ended the primary school presentation with an affirmation that school will start on time this year for JCPS.

Mr. Key then provided an update on the WPES roofing project stating that the project was around 75-80 percent done. He stated that the delay currently is the field metal for the media center, but that every leak has been fixed.

The meeting then moved to a number of academic presentations.

The first presentation covered the 2023 Advanced Placement (AP) results system wide. In 2023 a total of 112 students took an AP exam, with 172 total exams administered. Of those students, 62.5 percent of them scored a three or higher, which would pass as college credit in most universities. Additionally, 13 of 16 available subject areas had a pass rate of 50 percent or higher, with the subjects Psychology, U.S. History, and Macroeconomics having a mean score above the state and national averages. Mr. Garland said that he was very pleased with all of the numbers.

Next was the Class of 2023 readiness presentation. The presentation began with the SAT results for the system. Of the 71 students who took the SAT, the average math score was 504 and the average ERW (Evidence Based Reading and Writing) score was 516. The benchmark scores for college readiness is a 530 in math and a 480 in ERW. The ERW numbers had a slight decrease from last year, however, the math readiness score increased three percent. There was also a three percent increase in students who met both benchmarks.

The number of students who received college credit for accelerated enrollment via dual enrollment and/or advanced placement is 47.37 percent, a two percent increase. Mr. Garland said that around 45 percent of students graduate and go on to attend a four year university. Once again, Mr. Garland was very pleased to see the number of students who possessed a form of college credit before entering a two or four your university.

The number of Zell Miller scholarship qualifiers had a large jump from nine in 2022 to 14 in 2023. End of pathway completers at JCHS also went up from 67.74 percent to 74.17 percent. Mr. Garland noted that prior to the meeting, he learned that the Milestone results will be out in late July and that those figures will be presented at the next board meeting.

Open house and convocation dates were set in the meeting. Open house is set for August 8, with the exception of sixth grade orientation which is set for August 4. The annual teacher convocation is set for August 2. Full dates and times will be available in The Monticello News annual back to school section slated for publication on August 3.

Several action items were also presented. The employee work calendar for all employees was set. Mr. Garland noted that these start dates and end dates needed to be clear since it has lacked clarity in the past. The professional learning manual was presented as a guideline for requests. Board member Bubba Wilson questioned some of the wording in regards to hotel costs. With the document saying “hotel costs must be reasonable,” Mr. Wilson asked what reasonable would mean. Mr. Garland said he’d be determining the hotel costs on a case by case basis. Both items were approved unanimously.

Job descriptions and evaluations were then presented. This was primarily presented for paraprofessionals and technology specialists in terms of evaluating their work.

Jasper County Small Engine Inc. provided a bid of $13,200 for a new lawnmower for the grounds department. This was after concerns of the current equipment breaking down.

Three bond buses were set for purchase at a cost of $407,145.

All above items were approved unanimously.

Several fund raiser and trip requests were approved.

The board then went into executive session to discuss the following personnel moves.

New hires include:

•Jade Campbell, PEC paraprofessional, JCHS

•Lynn Matthews, substitute teacher, JCCS

•Brittany Marshall, Substitute teacher, JCCS

•Christina Small, substitute teacher, JCCS

•Megan Haddock, substitute teacher, JCCS

•Robin Hutchinson, PEC teacher, JCHS

•Mary “Katie” Fore, Pre-K paraprofessional,