Sweetwater School District #2 Passes $56.7 Million Budget

Sweetwater School District #2 Passes $56.7 Million Budget

GREEN RIVER — The Sweetwater County School District #2 Board of Trustees passed the budget for the 2018-2019 school year at their Tuesday meeting. The budget total is $56,733,229, based on 46.41 mills.

General fund revenues for 2018-2019 total $39,722,035, representing a net 2.62% decrease of $1,064,717 from the just-concluded academic year. Total appropriations are pegged at $39,536,664.

Salaries and benefits account for $31,036,734.

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The vote was unanimous among the trustees present. Board Chairman Brenda Roosa and trustees Corina Tynsky, Steve Core, Mark Sanders and Robin Steiss were present at the meeting. Trustees John Malone and Ann Rudoff were absent. Superintendent Donna Little-Kaumo was likewise present.

Major Maintenance Fund projects in progress total $1,099,200, including a $162,000 roof replacement at Harrison Elementary School. Available Major Maintenance Funds total $5,065,778.

Other components of the budget include $929,477 for the Recreation Board [i.e. consubstantial with the School Board], which will include $771,657 in appropriations. Some of that money will be set aside for improvements to the field turf in another three or four years.

“Future boards will be very happy that we set aside this (turf) money,” Core declared.
The beginning fund balance for the Recreation Board totals $1,604,491.

“I’m proud of a lot of the improvements we made,” Little-Kaumo said. Included in those improvements has been a $1.5 million upgrade to Lincoln Middle School.

Part of the new budget will go toward purchase of 650 solid state drives for the purpose of upgrading current lab computers as well as faculty and administrative computers. Trustees approved the go-to-bid request for the solid state drives, with the amount not to exceed $130,000.

Trustees approved a voluntary .5 mil request from the Region V Board of Cooperative Educational Services, which will total $464,739.

Trustees also approved a mill levy neutral amount of .113 mill, for $105,031.

In response to a question from Steiss, Little-Kaumo said that as of now, six students from SCSD#2 will be participating in Region V BOCES programs this coming school year. The different BOCES locations provide a more regulated environment for students requiring it.

Opening the can of worms

Core expressed concern about opening a can of worms if the board approved a request from a school run by Christian Alliance Church.

Notwithstanding, the board unanimously approved the request for $321 for three students from the small Christian school ($107 per student) to pay the fee for participation in football for the coming year.

The private school must still pay over $900 to the Wyoming High School Activities Association to be classified as a 1A institution in athletics and qualify for a combined school agreement.

The $107 figure that the trustees came up with is based upon the fee which a home-schooled student would pay to participate in SCSD No. 2 extracurricular activities.

“I don’t want to open up a can of worms. I don’t know how many home-schooled kids there are, but if 50 of ‘em showed up asking for money, then hey, we’ve got a problem here. We’d be talking major money,” Core said.

Tynsky asked if the approval for the Christian Alliance Church school was just for one year. Core responded that indeed that was the case, and the CAC school would have to repeat their request next year for any of their students wanting to participate in Green River extracurriculars.

Core again referenced a possible can of worms if the board approved a request to assist a special needs student from McKinnon wanting to enroll in school in neighboring Manilla, Utah. The board declined the request.

Core said he fully supports McKinnon Elementary and, while one student would not matter much, he added that he does not want to risk too many students from McKinnon deciding to cross the state border to Daggett County, Utah, and thereby possibly endangering the existence of McKinnon Elementary School.

The McKinnon school’s continued existence was an issue a few years back and Core said that he respects the desire of people in McKinnon to keep their school open and not to go through the same discussion all over again.

“It’s not a money issue for me,” Core said. He explained that keeping elementary schools open for business in McKinnon and Granger and at Thoman Ranch was simply the right thing to do.

Little-Kaumo expressed confidence that SCSD #2 was committed and able to provide help for any special needs students within the district.