OV board to vote on budget tonight
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Published: January 7, 2009
Members of the Otter Valley Union High School board will vote on an estimated $11 million school budget for fiscal year 2009 tonight, following weeks of debate over how to reduce student programming and staff to save roughly $320,000 in expenses and hold the line on tax rates.
If the plan on the table of the 11-member board is approved, complete with cuts in French, Technology Education and reduced workload for more than four staff members, the homestead tax rate determined by the school budget will be reduced 1 cent, to $1.23 if the state tax commissioner's tax rate estimates are finalized by the Legislature, according to school Principal Dana Cole-Levesque.
The board originally proposed eliminating entire student programs and teacher layoffs but changed its plan in response to outcry from the community and teacher's union, both groups that strongly opposed cuts that would have directly affected students.
The latest plan puts the school budget 1.1 percent over 2008 expenses. The plan includes a decrease in health insurance cost, preserves a guidance counselor position and offsets the cost of maintaining summer and after-school programs with federal funding, Cole-Levesque said Tuesday.
The board is scheduled to vote on the budget at a 7 p.m. meeting tonight in the OVUHS library.
— Staff reports
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