Budget Balanced with Cuts; Jepsen Appointed to Board
The Council School Board met last Wednesday for their regular meeting at Council High School. Big ticket items for the night included candidate interviews to fill a board vacancy in Zone 1 and the budget hearing.
Three candidates expressed their interest in Zone 1’s empty seat. They were Earl Henderson, Bryan Wells and Cynthia Jepsen.
Newest Board Member Kyle Johnson decided to recuse himself from voting or making a motion because he was biased in regards to Wells as they are personal friends. Johnson did participate in asking questions. After a few rounds of questions, Trustee for Zone 2 Jen Hamaker made a motion to appoint Henderson that was not seconded and failed. Chloe Lucas, Zone 4 Trustee, motioned to appoint Cynthia Jepsen which was seconded by Lynn Mendenhall, Trustee Zone 3. Jepsen should be sworn in at the Board’s next meeting.
Mendenhall did say it was a tough decision for him as Henderson does not live in zone 1 and the seat is up for election in 2027 and he would not be eligible to run in that election.
The budget was presented and discussed at length. Superintendent Brian Joyce and staff were able to balance the budget, despite the levy failure and with the following cuts: the district will not replace two full-time aides who resigned, two aides went from full-time to part-time and the district will not replace a full time and a part time teacher who both resigned.
Additionally, the district will most likely discontinue the bus to Bear as there are not enough students to warrant keeping it. Some are homeschooled, some can drive themselves and some travel with family to school. However, the school can reimburse parents mileage for transporting their children to school if needed.
One of the most visible cuts the community will see is the discontinuation of the current pre-school program as that was being taught by an aide whose pay was funded by the levy. The budget was approved by the board.
Recently released ISAT test scores for the year were a bright spot for the meeting. According to Leo Fontana, CES Principal, the elementary students as a whole are at or above 36% proficient in math. This is still not where they want to be as a school and does not meet state standards. But it is an 11% increase over last year. Fontana says this is thanks to the School Wide Improvement Program (SWIP) that the district is working in and the extra efforts this past year focusing on math. The complete results should be released and available on www.idahoreportcard.org sometime this summer.
Discussion items included possibly adjusting class offerings due to staff changes and to still meet state requirements. Also, the board discussed possibly adjusting the classified staff salary schedule. It was proposed to reduce new hires pay $1 per hour and pause current staff pay raises. No decision was made.
Action items included approving policy 2240 on class size and coaching staff for next year.
After an Executive Session the board accepted the resignation of Dayna Eppich.
The board’s next regular meeting is on July 8.
