A deficit budget has been presented to the Trenton R-9 Board of Education for the fiscal year beginning July 1st.
The school district has a significant amount of reserve funds but the amount as of the June 30th end of the fiscal year won’t be known until later.
Information was presented last evening by R-9 Superintendent Dan Wiebers.
The district has four funds: incidental, teachers, debt service, and capital projects.
The projected budget, accumulated from all funds, tops 12 million dollars ($12,075,056) The anticipated revenues – from state, federal, local taxes, and other sources – has been listed at nearly 11 million 643 thousand dollars ($11,642,884) That makes a one-year deficit of approximately 432 thousand dollars.
Much of the expense in capital projects is for parking lot improvements and computer purchases. Debt service includes principal and interest payments on major projects of the past. The teacher’s fund tops six point seven million dollars for 118 certified staff this next year.
Wiebers said Trenton will have three fewer certified positions as the district did not replace the high school assistant principal, a high school science teacher, and an elementary classroom teacher.
The incidental fund, from which many bills are paid, totals over four point one million dollars. No action was taken last evening. A special meeting of the Trenton R-9 board of education is scheduled Monday, June 27th (7:15 am) to adopt the new budget; close out the current fiscal year, and hear a proposal from Trenton community development director Ralph Boots.
Reports were presented last evening to the Trenton R-9 board of education.
One of them shows four Trenton high school students had a composite test score of 31 or 30 on the ACT. Of 78 students tested in April, the district reported 40 of them had a composite score of 20 or higher. Areas tested were English, Math, Reading, Science, and Writing. Information also was presented on end of course exams at THS.
The top two levels are considered advanced or proficient. For English language arts, 82.5% of the students scored in the top two levels. For biology, 55% scored advanced or proficient. In government, 56% were in the top two levels. And in algebra, 49% were ranked as proficient (none advanced). 5th-grade science had 38% score (up 4%) in the top two levels. 8th-grade science had 58% advanced or proficient (down 2%). 82% of middle school algebra students were advanced or proficient in the state assessments.
In action items, the R-9 board of education accepted bids to continue with two, suppliers: Central Dairy, Prairie Farms of Jefferson City for dairy products; and with MFA of Trenton for diesel fuel at a dollar-73 per gallon.
The board approved changes in students handbooks for the pre-school, Rissler elementary, middle and high schools.
The A-plus program saw 39 seniors fulfill requirements out of 62 enrolled. The 39 raises the R-9 district total to 791 graduates since 1998 who met all requirements.
Middle school assistant principal Kasey Bailey will assist THS and coordinate A-plus in the next year. Trenton high and middle schools have 15 sports and activities that are sanctioned by MSHSAA with baseball being the 16th starting next year.
