Rural Special School Board Approves Budget

In the Sept. 21 meeting, the Rural Special School Board approved the district’s 2026-27 budget, and voted to spend $38,839 to replace and upgrade the access controls for the exterior doors.

About the access controls, Thompson told the board, “I did have a couple different companies look at what we currently have. And their statement was that it wasn’t — I want to say it nicely. 
It wasn’t good quality. So, basically, we’ll be starting over.”

In answer to questions, Thompson told the board that, unlike the current system, the new system would store data about who unlocked a door, and at what time, in a place where the school district could access that data.

The measure was proposed at the beginning of the meeting, but board members postponed a decision to the end of the meeting, after they reviewed the budget.

Later in the meeting, the board reviewed and approved the budget for 2026-27. Thompson told the board that she had received confirmation that the school district would receive approximately $514,000 in isolated funding, an amount slightly higher than the school district had calculated. Thompson also pointed out the separation funding in the budget. She said the original payment of $393,000 was listed in the beginning balance.

“The second payment is split up, in that $270,000 of it was put in revenue, and I am suggesting that the remaining one million be moved to a building fund,” Thompson told the board.

Thompson reminded the board that by state law, the school district is not allowed to have any more than 20 percent of its budget left over at the end of the year. She said that the district had calculated operating expenses as best they could without historical data to draw from.

Board president Renee Carr pointed out that this year’s budget is not a “break even” budget, in that revenues do not cover expenses. Thompson agreed that the two separation funding payments were what allowed the budget to show a positive balance.

Thompson said, “Expenditures we won’t have in the future, that we have this year, are getting a campus up and running. Technology was expensive. Doors, cameras, buses, you name it. We won’t have those expenses again that we had to incur this year.”

After approving the budget, the board came back to approve the expenditure for access controls for the exterior doors. Board member Dustin Stewart said that having data about who had access to the building would make campus security officer Todd Hudspeth’s job easier in case anything happened at the school.

The board also discussed access to the school by outside groups before tabling the matter for further research. In the past, the school has allowed rental of the cafeteria. However, Thompson told the board that the amount that had been charged in the past was not enough to cover the costs associated with the use of the facility.

Both Stewart and Hudspeth pointed out that there is no way to allow access to the cafeteria without allowing access to the restrooms, and thus access to the rest of the building.

Board member Trilla Kennedy brought up liability, and said that purely from a liability standpoint, she believed rentals should cease, noting there are other options available.

The board also discussed requiring groups to have event liability insurance, with the school listed as “additional insured,” in order to rent the facility.
Board member Dan Morrison made a motion to cease all use of the facility by outside groups, with the exception of school or class reunions.

During the subsequent discussion, usage of the gym was brought up. Thompson said that a policy would also be needed for the gym: either a separate policy, or for gym usage to follow the same policy as the cafeteria. Eventually, after learning that no events were planned until November, the board asked Thompson to look at policies from other districts to see how they handle rentals, and tabled the issue, agreeing to let a school reunion of 30 years worth of classes proceed without a fee.

The board also voted to allow employees to transfer personal days accumulated with the Mountain View School District, to sick days at the Rural Special School district.

In other business, the board:

• Approved a disclosure statement from Kayla Knapp, stating that she might do more than $5,000 worth of work for the district, including T-shirt sales.

• Approved additions to policies concerning professional dress codes, and reduction in force policies.

• Agreed to allow Thompson to pay the American Fidelity bill online.

• Adjusted coaching stipends for the peewee teams to $1,000 per team for the head coach and $1,000 per team for assistant coaches, in order to make the stipends more fair based on the extra work required.

• Accepted a proposed budget determining the use of federal funds.

• Was informed that the final enrollment count was 211 students with six of those students being enrolled in the district’s virtual academy.

• Heard from Hudspeth, who is also transportation coordinator, that the district is finally in relatively good shape on buses.

• Increased the compensation for the speech therapist contracted by the district to $80 an hour, to reflect her education and training.

• Voted to add a custodial position, and to hire Brittany Roth for that position.

• Approved contract addendums for the programs Kinderboost and Save the Children, both of which are paid for by the Save the Children grant.

• Heard from principal Tanya Stewart that school report card grades had been received, and that elementary received a C and high school a B; that elementary had received an award for top 10 percent in growth in literacy, and the high school had received an award for top 10 percent in achievement in math.

• Heard from Thompson that the school district now has an official website at www.ruralspecial.net.

The next school board meeting is set for Oct. 19.