Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Energy costs hurt

Energy costs are having an effect on the Nevada School District.

Rick McAfee, Nevada superintendent, told the Nevada School Board, at its January meeting, the district has paid $16,000 more for electricity and diesel fuel this year than last. We can look for an extra $32,000 in fuel costs and wont be getting any help from the state.

Jim Cross, transportation and maintenance director, said for the first time in 18 years the district had a problem with its treatment plant, and it was an expensive item to replace. The plant, though, is up and going again.

Cross said hes not looking forward to the air conditioning season this year, because if any repairs are required, the entire units must be replaced with new ones of 13 SEER value, under new state guidelines. These units, he added, are expensive, and eventually all of the current units will have to be replaced.

Repairs, according to McAfee, will be done as much as possible with facilities improvement grants from the state. However, he said, these are matching grants and the district has to have the matching money on hand.

The Nevada district, he said, is only eligible for 38 cents on the dollar under the plan, because of the way the funding formula worked out. This means the district would have to come up with 62 percent of the funds for the matching grant.

Most of the facility grant money, he said, went to districts north of I-30.

Well have to put a roof on at some time, he said. Flat roofs arent feasible. Well have to take the top off, and replace it with a pitched roof. Metal roofing will give us a 25 year life expectancy, but its costly.

McAfee proposed doing this over a three year period to defray the costs and so the district wont have to have a millage increase from the patrons. A safe building, he said, is as important as a good academic facility.

McAfee has also been working with State Rep. Chris Thomason to try and get the Arkansas Department of Education to loosen the restrictions on the free and reduced lunch money so it could be used as matching funds for maintenance.

Nevada, he said, once had the highest millage in the county, but there hasnt been an increase in the last 16 years, which is good for the patrons. Id rather find a way other than taxes. The people can only stand so much.

The districts audit report had four points to be brought out, he said. The first was the lack of enough different people handling the finances, but this is an ongoing problem for most small districts in the state. The second point was applications for free and reduced lunch werent on the Arkansas Public School Computer Network (APSCN). The reason for this, though, was the reports were being handled manually, but have since been put on the network.

Third on the list was additional duty salary. All duties contracted employees are paid for must be included in their contracts. Those who get paid for sick days they dont take, he said, must have this added o their contracts. This, he added, will be done at the end of the year.

The final point was APSCN requires districts have 15 steps in their salary schedules. While Nevada has 15 steps, the steps begin at year one. According to the auditors, McAfee said, the steps must start at zero and go to 15. This will add an extra $450 a year to those with bachelors degrees and $500 annually to those with masters degrees. The Board amended the salary schedule to accommodate the underpayment. The money will be issued in separate checks in February.

The Board further adopted the change in the salary schedule for the 2005-2006 school year as well as the 06-07 year. The changes keep the district at the state minimum in salaries.

McAfee said the Board may have to tweak the 06-07 salary schedule because of changes that could come down from the state.

Teachers, he said, were given lists of five sites where they can get professional development. The sites will have in-service, professional learning communities, and communication assessments to parents. This is through the Solution Tree system. In addition, a Model School Conference in Florida was selected. The per diem of $65 for meals at these sites was approved. McAfee said the money for the professional development will come funds strictly for this purpose.

He said the district has completed its 10 year facility plan and applied to the state for funds. Some of the plans include putting a new pitched roof on the building, new heating and air conditioning, and improved plumbing. If its not on the plan, we cant apply for matching funds. The plan has to be updated every two years.

Under personnel, the Board extended McAfees contract by a year, and reassigned Sherri Moore from the elementary school to being the math coach.