..is a welcoming, respectful and safe community,

..where we hold ourselves accountable to global standards,

..where teaching and learning are challenging, dynamic and engaging,

..where students are empowered to lead productive lives as stewards of their world.

On Monday evening May 20^th, I opened the North Marion School District Budget Commitee meeting Meeting Agenda with my Superintendent's Budget Message.   The message set the stage for the committee’s discussion on the proposed budget for the 2013-14 school year (Budget Info, General Fund Revenue, General Fund Expenses, Other Funds Summary and Other Funds Detail). 

The committee approved the budget as presented and forwarded it to the Board for their final adoption at the June 10^th business meeting. 

This year’s budget is the first in nearly five years that allows us to start to restore some items that have been slashed from our operating funds as a result of the extended economic downturn.  As we put together the budget, we created a list of items that had been removed over the past few years and a list of new investments that would help us create better schools.  In just this very preliminary list, over $2,000,000 in restorative and investment items were identified and from that we were able to fund about $500,000.

Obviously there is still a long ways to go to get back to a healthy budget, but it felt good to finally be considering something other than more drastic cuts.  The question now is how do we fund our schools adequately?  What is it going to take to deliver the kind of educational opportunities that our kids deserve and our parents expect?  The School Board will be considering this question as they meet to discuss school financing options at their May 28^th work session.  Parents and patrons should tune in to hear the outcome of this meeting as it will go a long way in determining the future course of our District.  The meeting starts at 6:00 pm in room 201 in the Middle School and the public is welcome to attend. 

Finally, big thanks to the members of the Budget Committee and the administrative staff for all of their hard work in the development of the budget – job well done!     Boyd Keyser, Superintendent