RC Superintendent Tidbits
By: Mark Otten
When August rolls around, it means it is budget time for school districts in Nebraska. I have been working on our budget for the 2021-2022 school year with some options for our school board to consider and they will be very similar to last year. Rock County Public Schools are in position to fair pretty well financially right now. We did what it took last year to stop deficit spending and it appears we will be able to come in right on budget. The school district still has a shortage in the general fund account so we have a few months that are pretty tight for paying the bills. I am very happy to say that we did what it took to pay the bills this year without having to get an operating note and that is due to the efforts of the school board to conserve spending while maximizing our revenues. It is never an easy decision when we consider how much we need to ask for in taxes to run the district but it is always rewarding when we see what our kids are capable of when they leave Rock County Public Schools with a diploma.
Rock County Public Schools will qualify for around $450,000 in ESSER money from the federal government. At this point, just over $34,000 of that money has been received. The remaining money has either not been spent, or, we have not been able to request the reimbursement at this time. I want to mention again how well the school board did with back-filling the general fund with this money instead of purchasing new equipment. Approximately $230,000 of this money will go into the general fund for expenditures we were going to incur anyways. These include staffing and some cleaning supplies. The remaining money is planned to get used to replace windows. Replacing windows would have been an expense of the district in the next one to three years so this is saving our building fund around $220,000. All $450,000 of the ESSER dollars will be used to pay for something that would have required tax dollars if we did not get this money. Thank you to those who provided input on how to spend the money. I believe we will be putting it to good use.