The Starkville-Oktibbeha Consolidated School District Board of Trustees have set a date for the required public hearing on the district’s 2017-2018 budget.
The board voted 4 to 0, with one seat empty to set the hearing for July 31.
Chief Financial Officer Tammie McGarr said she should have the needed millage rates from Oktibbeha County by mid-July. The date of the hearing will also be published for a week in advance. The board is required by law to wait at least a week after the hearing to approve the budget.
The board also approved a new program titled Career Cruising for students at Armstrong Middle School and Starkville High School by a 4 to 0 vote. The program will be funded with $10, 818 of Title I funds.
“It’s just going to be guiding them toward careers and colleges, guiding them toward courses that they need to take based on their career interest survey that they’ll take early on in middle school,” said Superintendent Eddie Peasant. “It will guide them all the way through high school and beyond.”
Peasant said he and Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum and Instruction Cindy Maulding planned to give a more in-depth presentation on the program at the board’s August meeting.
“The career opportunities that are out there, students are so often not even aware of,” Maulding said.
The board also approved license applications and changes for several employees, as well as approving a memorandum of understanding between the district and The Family Resource Center of North
Mississippi and New Summit School in Jackson for access to New Summit online resources for adult education students at the Emerson Family School and J.L. King Center.
The next school board meeting is scheduled for Aug. 8 at 6 p.m. in the board room at the Greensboro Center.