Two Updates on last night's Morgan Board of Education meeting:
1) FIRST Update -
Last month the Board voted to not administer the SHARP (Student Health and Risk Prevention) Survey due to low participation in past years as well as parent opposition.
Last night a representative from Weber/Morgan Health Dept. announced to the Board that without the data provided by the SHARP Survey, they would no longer be able to provide Morgan School District any further prevention services such as the All Stars program (a prevention program for 5th graders) or Prevention Dimensions (prevention training for teachers).
Superintendent Ken Adams asked, "Is the health department aware that Morgan Empowered can provide alternate data via our sheriff dept., county attorney, schools, and religious organizations?"
President of the Board, Joey Skinner asked, "Who do we need to talk to at the Health Dept? It seems like there is emotion behind this decision because we didn't approve the Sharp Survey..."
As the Weber/Morgan Health Department decides whether or not to accept prevention data from Morgan Empowered in order to provide their prevention services, great questions for us to ask ourselves as members of this community are:
- "What programs do we already implement for prevention that are not affiliated with the health department?"
- "Are there other prevention programs offered by other organizations?"
- "Do we have local resources that can provide prevention services?"
2) SECOND Update -
Also discussed at the meeting was the financial status of our school district by the Board, Superintendent Adams, and visiting leaders from our state: Rep. Mel Brown, Sen. Allen Christensen, Sen. Stuart Reid, and Tami Pyfer from the State Board of Education.
The grim summary: Federal and State funding cuts, our local revenue losses and uncollected taxes, and 347 more students and correlating expenses have resulted in a loss of almost a million dollars to our school district. District cuts of approximately $446,000 this past June and a recent $100,000 local tax increase will help alleviate the lack of funds somewhat and keep us afloat this school year - barely. Without increased funding next year, we can expect loss of 3 - 5 teachers, increased class sizes, loss of extra-curricular programs and elective courses, etc. (to name just a few...)
Senator Reid's response: "The party is over. However we skin this cat, there will be less money because of the Federal Govt. It will get worse for at least 10 years because of growth and no money." His suggestion? "There needs to be greater discussion at the (Morgan) community level of developing businesses along the I-84 corridor..."
Senator Allen Christensen: "I just came from a meeting this morning regarding implementation of ObamaCare. It will cost Utah 100's of millions of dollars. We have no idea how to pay for this. If we increase taxes, it makes the economy go down..."
Rep. Mel Brown: "Maybe we need to say, 'We don't want your program and we don't want your money!' "
Tami Pyfer: "Our legislative expectations as a State Board are to fully fund growth AND increase the W.P.U." ("weighted pupil unit" = $ allocated per student enrolled). "Resources are diminishing and yet there are more increased expectations (of our education system)... A critical component of student success is good quality instruction. We need to not be distracted at legislative meetings (with funding other things) and keep that as our focus."
So, Morgan County Community, with all this in mind, ponder what YOU would do if YOU had the power to choose funding priorities for Morgan School District... because your voice in these matters DOES make a difference!
THAT'S IT!
The Morgan Community Network
-- Lydia Nuttall --
The Morgan Community Network
-- Lydia Nuttall --
No comments:
Post a Comment