Holton school board hears questions on budget

Following a revenue neutral hearing on the new USD 336 budget, and the regular hearing on the new proposed budget, and after reviewing the needs assessment for the district, the Holton school board voted 6-0 to approve the budget. About 14 members of the public attended the budget hearing.

Matt Devader spoke of the current “terrible economic times” in the public comment time and asked “Where does it end?” DeVader said it was a not a time for schools to be “expanding budgets.”

“I know there are places to cut expenses,” DeVader said. Groceries that used to cost $100 are not at about $300, he said. “This is hurting people in the community that you know.”

Rex Larrison said he would like to know how Holton’s per pupil costs compared to other districts and said he would attend a school budget workshop for patrons if one was offered. Jay Sims said he was not aware that he could only make comments about the budget but not ask questions of the board. Sims said he was interested in a school budget workshop for patrons, too.

Superintendent Trevor Ashcraft said peopler welcome to contact him at the district office to have their questions answered also.

Also, at the meeting, the board voted 6-0 to increase the district’s local option budget (LOB) authority from 31.6 percent to 33 percent and reviewed the district’s capital outlay fund planning.

At its meeting, the school also voted 6-0 to approve a Safe Routes To School plan and to seek grant funds with Erika Allen writing the grant requests for the district. Crossing the street from the middle school to the high school was identified as an area of concern as was the school crossing on Fourth Street/K 16 Highway through town.

For more on this and other stories, please log in to your holtonrecorder.net account and select “Sept. 11, 2024” under “E-Editions.”