The Starkville-Oktibbeha Consolidated School District will begin its budget process for the 2018-2019 fiscal year with a work session at 6:30 p.m. at the Greensboro Center.
The meeting will give the board the opportunity to ask questions of Chief Financial Officer Tammie McGarr and other administrators, as well as addressing any other concerns with the draft 2018-2019 budget. Following the session, the board’s concerns will be taken into account before the budget goes before the board again. As it will be handled in a work session, no action will be taken on the budget Tuesday.
“We’ll kind of get our initial look at it, and kind of what the administration feels regarding how we’re going to do financially in the coming year, what the projections are, what the expenses are going to be, things like that,” said SOCSD Board President Lee Brand.
For the 2017-2018 fiscal year, the district was forced to cut 10 percent across virtually all departments, due to a $131,409 decrease in the district’s Mississippi Adequate Education Program (MAEP) funding. However, millage rates did not increase, and the district’s fund balance, which is required by board policy to be at least eight percent, was 14.19 percent.
The work session is part of a special called meeting. Other items on the agenda include approval of select board policies prior to handbooks being approved, and approval of a double-sided
jumbotron for athletics. The jumbotron would be built at no cost to the district, and would service both football and baseball.