By Nathan Prewett, For the Tribune
LEEDS – At a short meeting of the Leeds Board of Education on Thursday, Oct 13 Superintendent John Moore spoke on an announcement made in a conference with State Superintendent Eric Mackey that the Alabama Education Trust Fund accrued $2.7 billion more than what was budgeted.
He said that there were different possibilities to how the money could be allotted to schools, including an income tax refund. Allocations could be made for what he called advancement and technology, as well as payroll for staff.
He mentioned that during the conference the speakers noted $100,000,000 was requested from the state board to be used for school safety. Not only would this be used for school resource officers but also for cameras and other equipment that could be beneficial for safety.
Additionally Moore announced that the district was granted $75,000 from the St. Clair County Commission as an annual appropriation for the school resource officers.
Among the actions taken was to adopt a mental health “opt-in” policy, something that was mandated by the legislation earlier this year. Moore said that the policy requires parents to sign a form to allow students to receive certain mental health services, though he said that the current counselor for the district has been working this way before the policy was enacted.
In his comments Moore said that the district’s student population has grown 2 ½% or 45 students.
“That’s a positive,” he said. “That’s something that we can work with.”
In another positive Moore said that he received a report that found that there is a 79% reading proficiency in grades two through three. He credited the work of programs like summer reading for the number.
“That’s a great thing,” he said. “That had a lot to do, y’all, with summer work and the dedication of people during the summer.”
Chief Financial Officer Ryan Miller gave his usual update on the financial status of the district, reporting that 96.84% of the general fund revenues were received in August. 106.67% of the local funds were received, up 8.50% from this time in 2021.
The month was ended with an excess of revenues over expenditures in the General Fund of $2,341,419 and the unreserved fund balance was $5,480,692.
In other business the board:
- Determined the Alabama Association of School Boards delegate assembly, with members Kathy Dutton and Aaron Moyana to attend,
- Approved a contract for a speech language pathologist to fill in for the previous as she is on maternity leave and
- Accepted bids from Shelf Stable and Osborn to provide milk for the schools.
The next meeting will be held on Nov. 8 at 6:30 p.m. at the Leeds Board of Education Building 1517 Hurst Avenue.
Nathan Prewett can be reached at nthomasp6@gmail.com.