The Board of Education for District 58 in Fulton will proceed with implementing a Citizen's Advisory Committee (CAC) for strategic planning. At the Wednesday meeting, Superintendent Jacque Cowherd recommended the board approve the first step toward establishing a CAC, which was initially discussed at a recent work session that targeted planning for the district's future and its revenue resources.
The CAC - comprised of community members - would be asked to provide input toward a five-year strategy based partly on the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education's Missouri School Improvement Program and partly on the district's desire to continue strategic planning that it has historically used for academic and facility improvements.
Within the next few weeks board members will provide suggestions as to how to go about creating a multi-faceted committee that is representative of the community.
Cowherd said he expects the CAC would begin meeting in the spring and continue into early summer, allowing the district to initiate strategic planning early in the fall at the latest.
Also on Wednesday's agenda was a presentation by Mayor Leroy Benton on the assessed valuation review for the school district.
Benton's review focused on tax increment financing (TIF) projects that affect the district.
In layman's terms, a TIF is a city project that takes precedence in tax fund allocations. When a TIF is in place, tax funds are directed away from the school district and into the projects.
In this case, there are three TIFs in place: the 1996 Tanglewood project, the 1998 Dollar General/Townsend project and the 2007 Fulton Commons project. Benton told the board the Fulton Commons TIF ended at the close of 2015 and the Tanglewood TIF will be dissolved in 2016. Those tax funds will be redirected back to the district.
That change in funding altered the evening's agenda in that Cowherd had originally asked for board approval on a compensation package formulated to increase teacher salaries. With the knowledge that there will be an increase in resources - though final amounts will be unknown for a few more weeks - Cowherd asked that the board withhold action until final numbers were available.
The board did take action to approve the purchase of 30 new band uniforms to round out the initial purchases sought two years ago. At that time, band director Kelly Neudecker had informed the board further purchases would be needed as she expanded the program, which she has done. The total expenditure will be $16,575.