August 17, 2015 Board Meeting
Board Briefs covers the highlights of each month's board meeting. More details can be found online at www.bisd.net.

Board Authorizes Refunding Bonds to Save $1 Million
School board members authorized refunding some of the district's bonds, which were issued to fund the construction of new facilities in 2005 and 2006. Those bonds were issued at an interest rate of 5%, and current market rates are closer to 3%. By refunding the bonds at the current rates, taxpayers are projected to save $1 million.

This is the sixth time that the district has refunded bonds since 2010. The previous rounds of bond refunding saved taxpayers a total of $6.4 million.
  
Board Adopts Budget and Tax Rate for 2015-2016
School board members also adopted a budget of $101,651,855 for the 2015-2016 school year. The budget includes a 2.4% increase in general fund expenditures. The increase primarily reflects fast-growing student enrollment, a salary increase for current employees, and an increase in the district's contribution to employees' health insurance premiums.

Following adoption of the budget, the board set the property tax rate for 2015-2016 at $1.44 per $100 of assessed valuation. That is the same as last year's tax rate.

Some taxpayers might see a difference in how their home values are assessed after the legislature approved increasing the residence homestead exemption earlier this year. That increase is contingent on voter approval. Voters will consider that constitutional amendment on Nov. 3. If approved, it would increase the amount exempted from ad valorem taxes from $15,000 to $25,000.
  
Superintendent's Report

Construction/Maintenance Update

At Bhs9, all of the HVAC systems have been installed and are running. Work on the projects is substantially complete about six weeks ahead of schedule.

 

At Bhs9 and LBMS, work on the safety vestibules is complete. Visitors to thosee campuses will be greeted by new entrances that greatly improve the security of both schools.

 

At Tiger Field, work continues on the track and field project. While the project is behind schedule, the field is expected to be completed in time for the Tigers to play their first varsity home game there on September 18.

 

Long-Range Facilities Planning Committee

The committee's next meeting is scheduled for 6 p.m. on Monday, September 14 in the boardroom at the Belton ISD Administration Building. Committee members will have an opportunity to hear from the City of Belton and the City of Temple. Later this fall, the committee will be invited to meet with current high school students and to attend a town hall meeting on the state's school finance system.

 

At this month's meeting, we discussed how Belton ISD performed under the state's accountability system. This is the third year for the current system, which rates schools as "met standard," "met alternative standard," "improvement required," or "not rated." It is also the third year that Belton ISD and all of its campuses have received the highest rating, "met standard."

I'm pleased that our district and all of our schools have once again received that state's highest accountability rating. This is one measure of Belton ISD's success preparing students to excel in tomorrow's world. This is, however, only one measure of our students' success.

As a district, we have adopted a more holistic definition of success. We include standardized test results in that definition but also what students achieve in their daily work, dual credit courses, Academic UIL competitions, our career and technical program, our athletics program, our fine arts program, and in service to our community.

We can point to examples of success along each of these dimensions, but we're also examining how we continue to improve. This month, the board adopted the District Improvement Plan for 2015-2016. I encourage you to take a few minutes to look it over. Next month, they'll consider the campus improvement plans.

At the heart of all of our planning and work is a commitment to make our motto a reality:  "Every Kid a Winner."

Sincerely,

Susan Kincannon, Ed.D.
Superintendent
RECOGNITIONS
State Academic UIL Feature Writing Medalist

At the State Academic UIL Meet held in late May on the campus of the University of Texas at Austin, Christina Gaw took fifth place in feature writing. This is the second consecutive year that Christina has medaled in a journalism event at the state meet. In 2014, Christina took fourth place in headline writing. 


Texas School Bus Safety Poster Contest Winners
 
Shivangi Ojha placed first in her division and overall in the state poster contest. This is the fourth consecutive year that she has won her division of the state contest. Her posters also took first place in the national contest in 2012 and 2014. 

Kaylee Combest placed second in her division of the contest.

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