School Board Accepts Teleconferencing Grant

by K.G. Beavers, Messenger Staff Writer

The Franklin County school board met in regular session on April 8 to vote on the Telehealth Grant and the proposed 2013–14 school budget.

The school board also learned that it won an award from the Cenergistic company for its energy conservation program. For the last 15 months, all of the schools have been working on energy conservation as a way to save money on utility bills. In the last 15 months the Franklin County schools has reduced its carbon footprint by 2,570 cubic tons or a savings of approximately $484,523.

The school board voted 7-0 to approve the Telehealth Grant, a two-year $499,000 telemedicine grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The telemedicine program is a way to connect a student to medical providers while the student is at school. The equipment can also be used for teleconferencing.

In the budget discussion, Director of Schools Rebecca Sharber reported on the Basic Education Program (BEP) estimates. The BEP is Tennessee’s funding formula for public education. “The 1.5 percent increase for salaries and the capital outlay inflationary funds have been added together. This means we will receive less money than last year. Because of the change in revenue, we will need to use more of our fund balance,” said Sharber.

The school board is projecting $41,799,205 in revenue and $44,044,692 in expenditures, leaving a $2.2 million deficit. The estimated undesignated fund balance on June 30 would be $1,490,698. The school board approved the budget and the cafeteria budget.

“As all of the budgets go through the process, there may be changes,” said Sharber. The budget process includes department heads meeting with the county commission’s finance committee and the finance committee presenting the budgets to the county commission. Final approval of the budgets is scheduled for July.

The board also approved revisions to the Section 4 and Section 6 policies, and the 2013–14 and 2014–15 school calendars. The biggest change was to Policy 4.600, Grading System, where grades K–2 move toward the common core transitional grading scale. This consists of numerical grades of 4, 3, 2 and 1 to be used in ELA (English, Language Arts) and math. For grades 3–12, students will still receive grades of A through F.

To allow for students, faculty and staff to attend the 2013 Franklin County Fair, Friday, August 23, will not be a school day. May 27, 2014, is now the abbreviated day. In 2014–15, August 22, 2014, will not be a school day and May 29, 2015, is the abbreviated day.

The board also approved the Tennessee Education Association resolution after amending the language that included reference to the Fair and Clear Teacher Evaluation Act. The school board amended the language to the resolution because most of the board members had not read the act in its entirety. For more information on the act, go to < http://wapp.capitol.tn.gov/apps/BillInfo/Default.aspx?BillNumber=HB0537>.

The next school board meeting will be at 6:30 p.m., Monday, May 13, at the board office, 215 S. College St., Winchester.