The Hugoton USD 210 Board of Education met Monday night for a budget hearing at 6:25 p.m. followed by the regular monthly meeting.
Questions and/or discussion concerning the proposed 2016-2017 USD 210 School District Budget started the hearing. Mr. Howie explained some of the changes made to the budget. Mr. Howie talked about the possibility of getting $546,000 from the Extraordinary Needs Fund. The Extraordinary Needs Fund was set aside by the Legislature for districts to apply for if they had an extraordinary increase in enrollment or a major decrease in property value affecting how much revenue the district brings in. The Legislature approved $13 million for the extraordinary needs fund. However, that amount is dependent on how much the state gets from the sale of the Kansas Bioscience Authority. If the state gets $38 million, then the extraordinary needs fund will receive the full $13 million. Any amount less than that, however, will be deducted from the fund, down to zero if the authority sells for $25 million or less. Nothing will be decided until the sale of the Kansas Bioscience Authority.
Intermediate School Principal Elise Heger, Middle School Principal Lance Custer and High School Principal Melody Witt introduced their new staff members to the board and then the board members introduced themselves to the new staff.
Hugoton FFA teacher Les McNally and chapter officers Anna Trotter, Roman Linstrom, Megan Newlon, Emma McClure, Elias Mendoza and Bernabe Mendoza talked about the FFA program. The students reported about the FFA teams placing, hosting lunch for teachers and staff from USD 210, Stevens county fair activities, national chapter applications and that the chapter placed fourteenth in the state. the Hugoton FFA chapter is also ranked from 151 to 400 in a group of 7,000 in the state. The group also discussed state degrees earned, state leadership and their attendance at the national convention. Paula Rowden informed the board the High Plains Education Corporative met Thursday evening and completed negotiations. HPEC serves 17 school districts, with Ulysses as the largest and Hugoton second largest.
