The Boundary County School District #101 Board announced more budget cuts will be slated for the 2010-2011 school year since funding for Idaho public schools was cut 7.5 percent by the Idaho Legislature earlier this month.

    There will be “significant cuts in the budget for next year,” according to Sup. Don Bartling at the March 9 meeting. “We’ll be discussing cuts more, trying to cut without affecting the children’s education.”

    Budget cuts statewide include reducing funding for transportation, field trip transportation, and the Limited English Proficiency program. State money for teacher and classified staff salaries was cut 4 percent while state money for administrator’s salaries was cut by 6.5 percent. Discretionary funding was also cut by 14 percent.

The school board approved a freeze on classroom supplies spending starting on Monday, March 15.

    No specific budget cuts were discussed at the March meeting, but the school board will decide how to cut the budget at the April meeting.

The Budget Hearing meeting will be held on Tuesday, June 8 at 4 p.m. in the Middle School Library. At the meeting, the school board will listen to public input on the proposed budget, which will be published ahead of time.

    Other topics discussed at the school board meeting included the robotics team, grant approvals, and approval of the Boundary County Middle School (BCMS) 7th and 8th Grade Credit System. 

“Beyonds words, it’s huge,” stated Walt Kirby, Boundary County Commissioner, about the Robotics team’s advancement to the finals in Atlanta, Georgia. “It’s amazing at what kids can do.”

Karen Lemley, Naples Elementary teacher, received approval to apply for an Art Grant with the Idaho Commission for the Arts. Grant money would bring teaching artists into grade 3-5 classrooms at Naples Elementary.

Mt. Hall Elementary Principal Jim Nash received approval for the Extended Reading Intervention Program at Mt. Hall Elementary. All costs are covered except for transportation, in which they are trying to be resourceful in order to meet the needs of the students. 

Cindy Orr, Valley View Elementary Principal, received approval to apply for the Response to Intervention (RTI) District Implementation Enhancement/Expansion Grant. The RTI program identifies students who are struggling with reading, determines the specific problem through assessments, and then places them into intervention programs tailored to resolve that problem. Grant money would enable the RTI program to be implemented district wide, enabling students to transfer between schools without having to start a new program. Valley View is currently the only school in the district with the RTI program.

“[We} don’t have the right assessments but we have lots of intervention programs,” said Orr. The RTI program would help develop the right assessments to place students into those intervention programs.

Implementation for the new BCMS 7th and 8th Grade Credit System for the 2010-2011 school year was approved.

The new system will help kids in the long run according to Dick Behrens, Boundary Country Middle School Principal. Students will be held more accountable and the system will be more in line with the system at the High School.

Under the new credit system students will receive one credit for each semester class passed, with 14 credits possible each year. Students will need 11 credits at the end of the year along with a 90 percent average attendance rate in order to continue to the next grade level.

For students who need to recover credit from a failed course, they will have two options: summer school or the new Friday Recovery Credit Program. The Friday Recovery Credit Program will last for eight weeks starting after the first semester and will allow students who failed a course in the first semester to recover the credit before the end of the school year.

“It will best serve the students and keep costs down,” said Behrens.