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June 26, 2008

School budget OKd, but citizens cry foul over Fisher

Local reverend asks for campus to be re-opened

By Angela Weatherford Staff Writer

More than 25 residents packed Thursday night’s Athens school board meeting to protest the district’s decision to close R.C. Fisher school.

Two members of the group addressed the board during the public comments portion regarding the closing. The end of the 2007-2008 school year marked the last for Fisher, which was closed for financial reasons and to send its sixth-graders to Athens Middle School.

The Rev. Bill Burton called the closing a “devastating setback” and asked the board if it had thought of the impact closing the school would have on the North Athens community.

“Did you consider the economic impact or influence on the homeowners with potential loss in their property evaluations with a closed school with boarded up windows signifying the community is at risk and unsafe to live in?” Burton asked.

“It appears that many rights have been violated,” Burton continued, “including students rights, parental rights, special education rights, children with special needs and disabilities rights and civil rights just to name a few.”

Burton presented AISD Superintendent Dr. Fred Hayes with a “Level 2 complaint” requesting the board re-open R.C. Fisher and “stop this confusion until you can all agree on a solution that will work for all the people.”

Board members say they are not permitted by local school board policy to respond during the public comments portion.

Also during the meeting, the board approved the 2008-2009 budget of $26,850,096. They also approved the proposed tax rate of $1.15, but will not adopt the official tax rate until August, AISD Business Manager Randy Jones said. According to information provided by the district, the tax rate is the same as last year’s.

The fiscal year will begin July 1 and end June 30, 2009.

Jones told the board he is nervous about the “petroleum based” products the district uses.

“If the price of gas goes to $6 or above,” Jones told the board, “I will have to come back to you good people and ask for a budget amendment.”

AISD’s budget is broken into three sections: local maintenance and operating budget (where most of the money is utilized), child nutrition budget and the debt service budget.

The local maintenance and operating budget is what the district uses for staff salaries, transportation and maintenance and operations among other things, Jones said.

AISD has budgeted to spend $23,980,096 next year in its local maintenance and operating budget, with $1,232,819 of that allotted to transportation.

“We will be closely monitoring the gas prices when the school year begins in August,” Jones said.

Another area Jones is concerned with is the Child Nutrition Budget, because food prices have risen due to higher gas prices.

The district has budgeted $1,485,000 for food services and the maintenance that goes into child nutrition.

Next year, AISD is projecting to have 3,495 students and 520 staff members.

A school’s revenue comes from local taxes and state and federal grants. This year the district is expecting to receive 54 percent of its budget from the state and 45 percent from taxes.

AISD receives approximately $3 million of federal and state program grants.

Other action taken during the meeting included:

• approval to spend $122,212 for paving parking lots behind the Administration Building and at South Athens Elementary;

• approval to purchase AIMSweb, a Web-based program to help screen special education students in kindergarten through 10th grade; and

• approval of bids from two developers to purchase the bus barn for $92,500. Both developers’ bids are contingent upon approval from the State of Texas to make the building an unspecified state agency office. If the state does not approve either development company, the property will again be on the market, Jones said.

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