Vandalia School Board OKs new levy

The Vandalia Board of Education at its monthly meeting on Tuesday approved a tax levy that will generate $3,813,270 in local taxes to operate the district in the 2010-11 fiscal year.
Add to that another $1,418,896 for bond and interest payments, and the district’s total tax levy for the year will be $5,232,166.  
With the taxable property value in the district projected by county officials to go up by an estimated $3.7 million or 4 percent (from $95,723,090 million in 2009 to $99,552,014 million in 2010), the aggregate tax levy increase is projected to go up 4.99 percent – just under the 5 percent limit that would require the district to hold a truth in taxation hearing.
“If the 4-percent EAV increase comes to fruition, that will potentially be our lowest tax rate since 2007,” Superintendent Rich Well said. He noted that the projected 2011 rate will be $5.25 per $100 of equalized assessed valuation – compared to the 2007 rate of $5.22 and the 2010 rate of $5.27.
The EAV is 33 percent of the property’s assessed market value.
“When EAV goes up, the tax rate goes down,” Well said, “and that’s where we are for 2011.”
In other action, the board approved School Improvement Plans for Vandalia Elementary School and Vandalia Junior High School, as well as a District Improvement Plan.
Those plans, which outline steps that will be taken to enhance the learning process, were required because those schools and the district did not make Adequate Yearly Progress on students’ standardized test scores.
The AYP standards were put in place by the U.S. Department of Education as a part of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. It requires each state to establish a timeline for schools to meet the scoring standard.
Though educators support the idea of improving student performance on the tests, the AYP guidelines have been controversial because they go up each year by 7.5 percent until the goal is for 100 percent of the students to achieve the standard in 2014. The 2010 standard calls for 77.5 of the students to meet the standard.
Well said that the process of coming up with the improvement plans was, in itself, a beneficial activity.
“The collaborative approach got teachers together to talk about educational issues,” Well said. “There was some great give and take between teachers. And when you’re evaluating what you’re doing, you’ve got to be getting better.”
Well said that although the district didn’t make AYP as defined by the state, the district has made many significant improvements in recent years.
“The AYP standard keeps going up,” Well said. “We’re improving, but we aren’t going up 7.5 percent each year.
“We’re taking a negative (we have to do this) and turning it into a positive (we can make some real improvements).”
He said that several changes will be introduced in the second semester – including changes to clarify learning objectives and more activities to promote involvement by parents.
In his financial report to the board, Well said that the “district’s fund balances are positive,” with a total fund balance of $6,747,880 and a balance in the district’s operating accounts of $4,859,220.
He also said that “we’re at our marks on the percent (for this time in the fiscal year) for our expenses. We’re where we need to be.”
In the four operating accounts over which the district has spending control (education, building, transportation and working cash), the district has received 49 percent of the annual funds and has made 40 percent of the annual budgeted expenditures through November.
Well also reported that the district has been receiving its general state aid payments on time, but the categoricals (specific accounts for items such as transportation, special education and food services) are still running far behind schedule. In fact, the district has not received any of the four categorical payments scheduled to come from the state since the start of the 2010/2011 fiscal year on July 1. Last year, the district received only one of the four payments – with a second one coming one week into the 2010/2011 fiscal year. Well said the payments are about six months behind now.
Well also told the board that the district has completed a five-year agreement with the Da-Com Digital Office Solutions of St. Louis for eight new photocopiers and five new risograph machines.  He noted that the agreement is less than the district’s previous lease, and provides similar or superior machines. Those machines should be in place at the start of the second semester in January. The board approved that agreement.
In other action, the board:
• Approved a bid for gasoline and diesel fuel from South Central FS for the calendar year of 2011. The bid price for gasoline is $2.88 per gallon and the diesel is $3.20 per gallon.
• Approved a two-person split position for assistant softball coach at VCHS. Sharing that position will be John Stout and Jeremy Curll.
• Approved a district food allergy policy. That policy was drafted by Sandy Stombaugh, the district’s nurse, and Janine Lotz, the district’s kitchen supervisor. It outlines policies and practices to accommodate students with food allergies.
• Set the 2011 VCHS graduation ceremony date for Saturday, May 21, at 7 p.m.
• Approved the destruction of executive session audio recordings older than 18 months.
• Approved the first reading of IASB policy updates.
• Set Monday, Jan. 17, at 6 p.m. for a school board retreat.