Blog Bits

School Board Highlights
In addition to its regular business last Thursday evening, the Board of Trustees honored those who volunteer their services to the school district. They also adopted the school calendar (a link below will take readers to the 2007-2008 calendars). The next regular school board meeting will be February 15, 2007 at Jefferson Elementary at 7:00 p.m.

Legislative Priorities
Each long session, several bills are introduced that will impact education. The following are priorities for our district as legislators conduct their work:
a) During the first half of calendar year 2007, there is a 95 million dollar shortfall in the appropriation for state support of schools. The impact to Plymouth Community Schools will be a $360,000.00 shortfall during the first six months. Previous legislatures have corrected the shortfall prior to building the new budget. We encourage our legislators to do the same.
b) The 2% circuit breaker goes into effect during calendar year 2008. We have viewed various studies regarding the impact of the circuit breaker on Plymouth Community Schools. One study suggests the impact will be as little as $5,000.00, while other studies put the impact near $250,000.00 shortfall each year. The $5,000.00 shortfall is based on the assumption that accessed valuation will grow at the rate of 25% per year. We believe that the actual growth factor is much less. Legislation is needed to replace lost revenues to maintain the level of services that we currently have.
c) Textbooks – there will be bills introduced to provide free textbooks for all students. We think this conceptually, is a good idea. The bill that has been currently introduced, funds textbooks at $95.00 per student; our current fees average $120.00 per student. That current level of funding would require Plymouth Schools to dip into the general fund monies approximately $122,500.00 per year. We believe the highest priority for our legislature should be to fully fund the cost of books for those students who are on free/reduced lunch. The state currently refunds the local district at 58% of the cost.
d) Increase in school support - We are a growing school district. Our health insurance, utility costs, and cost of labor are increasing. The governor has recommended a 3% increase in state funding. The Department of Education has recommended 4%. We believe we can live within those recommendations.
e) Full day kindergarten – There is a lot of discussion of full day kindergarten in the legislature. Two bills have been introduced. The one in the house requires every district will offer full day kindergarten with no corresponding funding. The one in the senate phases in full day kindergarten and its funding over a period of time. We have several students who currently participate in extended day or full day kindergarten activities. Our staff sees a great need for many of our students. We support full day kindergarten as long as the requirements are fully funded and full day kindergarten is optional for parents.

Miscellaneous
Please check out the Plymouth Speech and Debate blog. It is highly animated. Former team member Heidi Dickson is in charge of maintaining the site.

Weather Button
A weather button has been added to our blog. A double click on the weather button will lead to a site containing current weather conditions. Office Manager, Amy Pratt, installed the feature on the Plymouth Truth.