Daniel Prince
Linda Griffin introduced as new finance director
At Monday’s school board meeting, Kelly Richardson introduced the district’s new finance director to the board. She said Linda Griffin began work on January 3. She called Griffin phenomenal and said the board made a good hire. She presented the budget calendar to the board for information, saying that if all goes well, they will have information on what the state legislature plans to do with the education part of the budget sometime in March, and they can begin finalizing things then. The budget is normally passed in June, prior to the start of the new fiscal year on July 1. Two school board meetings are possible in June to deal with the budget, with the second one scheduled only if needed. The board voted to schedule a budget workshop on Monday, February 13, at 6 p.m.
Richardson stated that local tax revenue began to ramp up in December. Total revenues for the district are $14.6 million, with expenses totaling $12.8 million so far, leaving a net operating balance of around $1.8 million.
Personnel Director Jeff Stribble asked the board to renew offering signing bonuses for new hires in critical subject areas for the 2023-2024 school year. The board unanimously approved that request.
The board went back into executive session for a little more than 30 minutes to deal with the superintendent’s goals and evaluation. Coming out of the session, the board unanimously approved a motion to extend Superintendent Joey Haney’s contract by one year and giving him a $5000 pay raise. This keeps Haney with the school district through the 2025-2026 school year and moves his salary to around $156,000. He received the same extension and pay increase last year. The board unanimously voted to change when they evaluate the superintendent and when the superintendent presents goals for the year. The goals would be presented in August, and the evaluation would take place the next August. With the change, Haney’s next evaluation will come in 7 more months. We’ll have more from the meeting in tomorrow’s newscast.