The Watson Chapel School District will operate during the 2024-25 school year with a budget $8.2 million larger than in 2023-24.
Board members Monday unanimously approved a $34,389,533 budget that accounts for the transfer of funds to go toward the district’s portion of costs toward a new high school scheduled to open in 2026. Baldwin & Shell Construction Co. in March gave the district a guaranteed maximum price of $38,862,599, about 24% of which the district is responsible for through a cost-share partnership with the Arkansas Department of Education.
The district expects about $630,000 less in total revenue from last school year, budgeting to take in $26,062,901. The beginning balance for this school year in operating funds was $3,645,378, and the projected ending balance is $1,939,426.
Most of the increase in the budget is due to the projected cost of purchased property services including construction, repairs and utilities, which increased from $2,679,319 last school year to $8,962,965.
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
In presenting the budget to the board, District Treasurer Norma Walker explained she budgets conservatively, meaning she predicted less revenue and higher expenditures to cover anything she may not be aware of, or to prepare for either a colder winter or emergency.
Federal funding the school district has received during the covid-19 pandemic will expire this year, meaning programs made possible by these funds will require other money sources, Walker told the board.
ACADEMIC REPORT
Traci Holland, the district’s new executive director for curriculum and instruction, gave an academic report to the board.
Holland reported biweekly collaborative meetings with principals, instructional facilitators and district leaders are taking place. For its first SMART — sustainable, measurable, attainable, relevant and time-bound — goal, all teachers will post daily learning targets aligned to essential standards by Sept. 16.
“We’re going to make sure all of our scholars know what they are expected to learn daily, that teachers are communicating that, that they know the expectations and the essential standards they will be assessed over,” Superintendent Keith McGee told the board.
District staff have received heavy support from the Bailey Education Group, the advisory firm for the district, Holland said. She reported teachers have received 35 days of coaching as of Monday, although classes had been in session for 15 days.
PERSONNEL MOVES
The district received letters of resignation from teachers Ariel Barnes, Synthia Massey and James Norman, and security guard Marece Sims.
Janie Stuart, a cafeteria worker, submitted a letter of retirement. A security guard and Coleman Elementary secretary have been terminated from their roles.
The district approved the hires of security guards Carl Banks Jr. and Barbara Dorn, paraprofessional Keturha Griffin, special education teachers Patricia Jones, Otis Nolful and Crystal Wright, and dyslexia paraprofessional Chiquita King.