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USD 428 BOE to hold budget hearing, introduce family engagement coordinators
COVID-19 response and more on agenda
428 new logo

The Great Bend USD 428 Board of Education will hold a revenue-neutral hearing at 5 p.m. Monday, Sept. 13, at the District Education Center, 201 South Patton Road. After hearing any public comments, the board is expected to approve a resolution to exceed the Revenue Neutral Tax Rate for financing the 2021-2022 budget. Superintendent Khris Thexton will provide details.

Immediately following the revenue-neutral rate hearing, the board will hold a public budget hearing. After a review of the 2021-2022 budget that was published in the Great Bend Tribune on Aug. 15, the board will approve the budget.

The regular board meeting will immediately follow the budget hearing.

Last April, the school board approved a Family Engagement Plan for the 2021-2022 school year, made possible with federal funds specifically intended to alleviate the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. The plan included the addition of seven family engagement coordinator positions. The coordinators will be introduced and the board will hear more about their role to strengthen community resilience through school-administered family engagement programming.

The board will also revisit the Forward Great Bend Operations Plan, which addresses specific school operation strategies in response to the health of the community and reducing the spread of COVID-19.

New business items on the agenda include notification of the Title VI B and Early Childhood Flow-Through Budget Application; approval of site council members; information on the Kansas Department of Health and Environment’s COVID Test to Stay Program; and approval of a mill levy for the Great Bend Recreation Commission. GBRC seeks to increase its mill levy from 7 mills to 8 mills for the 2021-2022 fiscal year. As the sponsoring district, the USD 428 Board of Education must approve the request prior to the Rec Commission’s publishing the notice in the Great Bend Tribune.

Several administrator reports are also on the agenda, with action expected on a KJUMP Energy Solution Agreement. KJUMP is the Kansas Association of School Boards’ energy purchasing consortium. The district has been working to receive a discount of the unusually high natural gas bill that covered charges for the prolonged, record cold snap last February.