GCISD Lowers Tax Rate with Higher Values
After a public hearing (which no one from the public attended) Aug. 30, the GCISD Board of Trustees adopted a 2004-2005 budget in excess of $6.8 million and a tax rate of $1.42 per $100 valuation, down from $1.50 last year. Expenditures are budgeted at $7 million, but Superintendent Steve Long says the school usually only spends 95 to 98 percent of its budget, so he expects to end the fiscal year with a surplus which will be added to the district’s reserves of approximately $2.7 million. The board was able to lower the tax rate because the county’s valuations were up from last year.
The school’s only debt service is $118,000 for fitness equipment, which is to be paid for with grant funds. There is $150,000 budgeted for construction of a vocational arts building.
The board hired Addie Lynn Nauman as a second kindergarten teacher. She is a 2002 graduate of East Texas Baptist University, receiving an education degree with a reading specialization and a kinesiology component. Most recently, she has been working in Russia as an elementary school English specialist. Kindergarten enrollment is currently 24.
Long reported that two new busses are in, and that car (bus) seats for head start students are in use.
The board approved four new student transfers into the district, bringing the total to 31.