The cutbacks in school funding amounted to a loss of $200,000 to Henryetta schools this past year.
That loss was brought up Monday night at the Henryetta school board meeting by Nancy McKay and Dwayne Noble.
McKay said the school district started with a $795,000 fund balance and should end the year with $550,000. “”Until the state makes it a priority to find new revenue streams for education, it will continue the downward spiral,” McKay said. She told the board the state is looking at a $1.3 billion shortfall in overall revenue.
“We are surviving, not thriving. Usually the economic downturn lasts two years. Oklahoma has never recovered since the 2009 downturn.”
That failure to recover has put the state last in the nation in terms of funding education.
One of the ways she said would help improve school funding would be elimination of tax cuts. “The last one (tax cut) cost close to $507 million. That amounted to $25 to $30 for each household. I can find that much in the bottom of my car.”
Noble said the district will shift some payments into different accounts to maintain the fund balance. That includes moving utility costs, property insurance and custodial salaries to be paid out of the building fund. That fund is financed through part of the property tax allocation to the school.
Board members approved the start of a vocational agriculture program next year. The superintendent said Ag 1 courses will be provided for the first two years to give students the basis foundation. “It will take a couple of years for a fully-developed program,” he said. The school is in the process of advertising for a vo-ag instructor.
Long-time elementary teacher Lou Ann Smith submitted her resignation effective at the end of the school year. She said she is retiring.