School Board Approves Budget

The Kimball School Board met Monday, Sept. 14, for a public hearing on the Property Tax Levy for 2020-21 and for the General Fund and Special Building Fund request. The board later conducted their regular meeting.

Charts showing valuations, property tax request, property tax rate, state aid and the General Budget Fund were available to the board and public.

Total valuations in Kimball County are down 1.9% from 2019 to 2020. The Kimball School District tax request for 2020-21 is $5,965,384.00 whereas the tax request for 2019-20 was $6,078,260.73. The 2019-20 levy was 1.069898, the levy for 2020-21 is 1.05.

In the regular meeting, the board approved by a 6-0 vote the 2020-21 School Term Budget for the General Fund, Depreciation Fund, Activities Fund, School Nutrition Fund and Special Building Fund for Kimball County School District 53-0001. Following, the board also approved the Tax Request Resolution for the 2020-21 School Term for the General Fund and Special Building Fund for the district.

An update on the Continuous School Improvement Plan was provided to the board by Luke Maas. He explained that there was a need for more measurable goals and a baseline needed to be set up to determine where they can improve. This will be done with a series of surveys for the students, staff, parents, community and alumni. Discussion and preparation for the surveys is ongoing.

A business teacher has been hired, and the board approved the contract for Jeffrey Hoatson. His contract is effective beginning in the second quarter.

All school board members will attend virtually the NASB area membership meeting on Sept. 30.

Plans were made for the board to attend the 2020 State Education Conference from Nov. 18-20 in Omaha.

The next meeting will be at 6:30 p.m. Oct. 12.