The Elk City Public Schools is now officially directing its business to the upcoming school years, according to agenda items addressed at the June 12 school board meeting.
Typically, school boards have an annual challenge of completing the previous year’s business in the months of April and May while looking at the upcoming year.
In June, the focus narrows in on the future. That was evident in the June 12 meeting. Elk City Public Schools Superintendent Mike Sparks said the financial and treasurer’s reports focused primarily on the teacher pay raise recently mandated by the state legislature.
“We looked at what that would look like and the cost, as well as the funding that we believe will come in from the state for this. Another thing we looked at was funding for schools that don’t receive much funding for building improvements. Previously, the legislature passed the Redbud Fund for that, and we received around $68,000. With the new laws that have been passed, we think we might get around $400,000 this next year. That is a big difference maker for places like Elk City,” Sparks advised.
The board opted not to go into executive session.
The board voted to approve establishing Fund 32 for the Transportation Bond Funds.
Sparks explained that this would essentially take the funds approved by Elk City voters for the transportation bond and put them into an easily traceable account so citizens would know exactly how the money has been spent.
“That’s just our way for accountability,” he said.
Sparks expects a smaller activity bus will be bought late next year along with the two activity buses and five route buses already purchased.
“We are still so grateful that this bond passed for our students,” Sparks said.
The board approved OSIG Building Insurance for the 2023-2024 school year. This insurance includes building insurance and vehicle insurance for the district.
“Every year, the cost to replace things has increased rapidly recently,” Sparks said. “We did add additional coverage in case the worst-case scenario happened with our weather so that we know that we could fully rebuild.”
Sparks noted that the insurance price has doubled in his three short years as ECPS superintendent.
The board also approved auctioning the old buses replaced by the bond issue. He said the school uses an auction firm specializing in old buses.
“We will post to social media when the buses are auctioning for those interested,” he added.
Sparks told the board that Phase I of the Big Elk Stadium Restoration Project is completed.
“The older fiberglass seating is now all gone. We do have new seating coming in for the reserve section, which we learned is expected to be in the second week of August,” Sparks stated.
Sparks didn’t have official enrollment for next school year but said all indicators show it will be up again.
