Published: November 09, 2009 08:31 am      

Support personnel get raises

Chouteau School Board voted to approve the 2009-2010

budget, raises for support personnel and received reports on lower reading test scores during their meeting Thursday night.

Superintendent Dr. Lisa Horn explained her purposed budget to board members. Board president Wayne Markiewicz asked about state budget cuts for schools.

“What kind of rumors are coming out of Oklahoma City on budget cuts?” he asked Horn.

“Although budget cuts are tough and we knew they were coming, we’ve only lost about $13,000 from the state,” she said. “We’re lucky because we depend so little on state aid.”

Chouteau schools receive the bulk of their funding from ad valorem money.

Horn projects a budget of $8,327,998.73 for the school year. Her budget reflects that approximately $800,000 will be left to carry over to the next year.

“It’s important to watch our spending and be smart about what we use our money for,” she said.

The budget approval was listed in the consent agenda, along with raises for support staff to be retroactive to July 1.

Horn explained to board members that their support staff does a wonderful job and has received no raise in some time.

Board member Donda Richards shook her head slowly as Horn was explaining the consent agenda item.

“I’m not in agreement with it, but that’s just me,” Richards said.

“What are you not in agreement with?” Horn asked.

“We’re having budget cuts, you know, and it’s just, you know ...,” Richards replied.

“They deserve a raise,” Horn said. “I think they’ve done a good job.”

“Well, everybody deserves a raise,” Richards retorted.

“You know, Donda,” Horn replied. “I wouldn’t make a recommendation if I thought it was going to get us in financial trouble. This is something we can do. We have good people and we want to keep them.”

Horn explained that the support personnel, which includes secretaries, maintenance and cafeteria workers would receive what amounts to a 25 cent raise.

“They take extra training,” Horn said. “We won’t keep them if we aren’t competitive. We’ve nearly been recession proof and we’re cautious. We can afford it and they deserve it.”

The consent agenda was approved, with Richards casting a no vote.

Dennis Stutzman, principal at Mazie, and Steve Boone, interim principal at Chouteau Elementary, addressed the board with presentations about the recent scores on API tests.

Reading and math scores are down from previous years, with reading taking a significant hit.

“The math scores are not where they need to be,” Stutzman said. “I might add that on the ’09 scores, those were tougher than in previous years. That’s not an excuse, we know we can do better.”

Stutzman praised the staff at Mazie schools.

“My teachers work hard. We have a great staff. They work well together and they care about those kids,” he said.

Reading scores dropped significantly in Chouteau and Mazie. Scores previously in the 80s were in the low 60s this year.

“You can’t really compare the two years,” Stutzman said. “They changed

the grading scale. It’s like comparing apples to oranges.”

Boone talked about attending a recent reading conference in Oklahoma City, where he heard people talking about the statewide drop in scores.

“Most of us had changed our core program,” Boone said. “That takes some time for results to show.”

Horn told the board about the Alpha Plus group who is working on curriculum realignment for the school system.

“About the low test scores,” she said. “I think we’d better be prepared because the standards are only going to get higher,”

“It all boils down to curriculum, teaching and having the necessary resources,” Boone said.