Powder River Examiner -

The Broadus School Board met Monday evening to discuss the March agenda.

The Board accepted the resignation of Barb Mitchell as Concessions Manager, effective at the end of the school year. The Board will be looking to hire a new manager.

Next on the agenda, the Board moved to allow the FFA’s use of a school bus for the FFA trip to Indianapolis. Other schools will be riding with Broadus – those schools pay a per student fee for the privilege.

The Board then voted to approve the Senate Bill 307 resolution on permissive levies, which allows maintenance levy for schools without the vote of the public, but requires public notice of any increase before they are adopted.

The Board then had a long discussion on considering a general fund levy. With the drop in student numbers over the years, the school districts receive fewer funds from the state and federal governments.

This means the local tax payer is left to pay a higher percentage of the budget. According to Superintendent Hansen, our system is currently looking at a budget shortfall of around 90,000 in the High School, and 25,000 in the Elementary.

The Board discussed the matter of the levy, and after a rather pregnant pause, the Board voted to hold a levy for the amount written earlier.

Hansen commented that he sees future enrollment leveling out, so in coming years the Board should not need to ask for more taxpayer money, as a result of enrollment. Unfortunately for the time being we are not quite to those levelled off enrollment numbers.

As of the meeting, no one had yet filed for Danny Johnson and Shasta Madsen’s positions on the Board, which are currently open for filing. The deadline is March 22nd.

The Board voted and approved the second reading of updates in their Board Policies. They then heard from Shasta Madsen, as she discussed the findings of the Transportation Committee, which held a meeting earlier in the evening. Some of those findings, including bidding of a bus route, changing a bus stop, and reimbursement for coach/advisor drivers, will potentially be agenda items in the coming months.

The next Board meeting will take place on April 13th at 7 PM.