An article in Saturday's Indianapolis Star indicates that the Lebanon Schools should be receiving $667,884 in federal stimulus money, which is processed through the state government. Sounds like great news, right? I started wondering right away what Dr. Taylor and his team might recommend to the board to make use of these funds!
Not so fast. If you read closely, you'll see that Supt. of Public Instruction Tony Bennett sent a letter with notification of the windfall, urging school corporations not to spend the money until the General Assembly makes budget decisions for the 2011-12 school year (that happens around December of this year). Red Flag alert! This means, in all likelihood, that Indiana will do with this federal money what they did with the first stimulus package: give the federal money with one hand, while reducing the amount schools get from the state by the same amount. This keeps education spending flat, makes Indiana's budget numbers look better (in case anyone down there plans to run for office), and lets Gov. Daniels take credit for distributing federal dollars.
I don't know what Lebanon will do, but I'm betting we won't go cashing that check just yet.
Monday, August 30, 2010
And We're Off!
We're now three weeks into the 2010-11 school year in Lebanon, and things seem to be settling down, both at my house and across the corporation. The year began with a bit of chaos, as the corporation saw increased enrollment, resulting in some elementary classes being quite large. Dr. Taylor and his team were keeping a close eye on numbers (among other things) in the first couple weeks, and he was able to recommend that the board approve four elementary teaching positions, one at each school, to ease class sizes. We enthusiastically agreed, and most elementary classrooms now have fewer than 30 students.
In July my colleagues elected me board president. This is really just a procedural position--in this role I work with Dr. Taylor to prepare meeting agendas and I run the meetings. I don't have any greater authority than any other member of the board, and as always we only have any authority at all when we act together in a public meeting. We approved our 2010-11 meeting dates, so if you're in the neighborhood, stop by and see what we do!
At a board retreat in early August we spent some time with a board member from the Noblesville Schools, where they passed two referenda in May. She helped us understand some strategies for promoting our own referendum, which I have written about previously. The Support Lebanon Students PAC, which is running the referendum campaign, has been very active and has received good coverage in The Reporter.
In July my colleagues elected me board president. This is really just a procedural position--in this role I work with Dr. Taylor to prepare meeting agendas and I run the meetings. I don't have any greater authority than any other member of the board, and as always we only have any authority at all when we act together in a public meeting. We approved our 2010-11 meeting dates, so if you're in the neighborhood, stop by and see what we do!
At a board retreat in early August we spent some time with a board member from the Noblesville Schools, where they passed two referenda in May. She helped us understand some strategies for promoting our own referendum, which I have written about previously. The Support Lebanon Students PAC, which is running the referendum campaign, has been very active and has received good coverage in The Reporter.
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