With the seasonal calendar page for Monongalia County Schools now officially turned to spring, that means prom, baseball, band concerts and track and field meets for students across the district.
There’s that, plus the big show for the seniors who will (finally) get to walk across that stage for their handshake and diploma.
In the meantime, though, the season also springs with a whole different trajectory for Nicole Kemper.
And the go for her isn’t necessarily fun and games and new beginnings.
For Kemper, the district’s treasurer, it’s all about the numbers.
Numbers, and the crunching of them.
Whole ledger columns, spreadsheets and pie charts of them.
Kemper is in the process of working on the district’s operating budget for the coming fiscal year, a document that topped out at $145 million for this one.
There’s also a matter of working with central office administration and Board of Education members to set the rates for the excess levy for education, which annually brings more than $30 million into district coffers.
It’s likely that several teachers and other district employees will be at University Town Centre tonight to discuss matters of money and their household budgets.
The state Public Employees Insurance Agency is hosting an informational session from 6-8 p.m. at Hampton Inn to explain upcoming changes that have upped premiums to make up for economic shortfalls stemming from enrollment declines and other particulars.
In the meantime, members of Mon’s Board of Education have also been considering the possibility of pay raises for district employees – matching that $2,300 raise that was just awarded on the downslide of the 2023 Legislative session, which gaveled to a close two weeks ago.
Right now, the BOE said, the emphasis is on that word, “possibility.”
An across-the-board raise of $1,000 for school employees in Mon last year cost the district more than $1 million, and that outlay, Kemper reiterated, came out of a cash reserve fund.
Kemper and the board will take up the issue on the agenda next month, she said.
BOE President Ron Lytle, speaking during a March 14 board meeting, said that will be an item on the agenda that needs to afford lots of attention.
Attention and urgency, he said.
“It’s tough this early, but we need to keep an eye on this.”
TWEET@DominionPostWV
