In a complete breakdown of a recent Fiscal Year 2024 audit, Trigg County Schools Chief Financial Officer Holly Greene unraveled the district’s recent spending methods during Thursday night’s Board of Education meeting — revealing key factors on decisions made in the last 12 months.
She said last year’s funding arms were valued at more than $32 million, and included:
+ 26% local taxes
+ 20% in state SEEK funding, after the 30-cent effort
+ 19% in other state funding measures
+ 17% in federal grants
+ 6% in state grants
+ 4% in impact aid
+ 3% in student revenue
+ 3% in cash interest
+ 1% in food service
+ 1% in miscellaneous
+ and negligible amounts in other categories like daycare and charitable contributions
Board attorney Jack Lackey made a point, noting that the state’s biggest change in the last 10-to-15 years is that local taxes are now more responsible, and weightier, than SEEK.
Greene also made clear that federal grants right now are valued at $5.5 million, a “once-in-a-lifetime” number.
How was it spent?
Well, not accounting for construction since it’s a fixed asset, Greene said more than $27 million was appropriated in the last year. And of that:
+ 66% went to instruction, including tools and teachers
+ 7% went to operations and maintenance
+ 6% went to student transportation
+ 5% went to school administration and support services
+ 5% went to food service operation
+ 4% went to business support services
+ 3% went to district administration
+ 2% went to debt service
+ And 1% each went to community services, day care and other miscellaneous costs
Add in this past year’s construction costs, and Greene said the district still had 55% of its expenditures diverted to instruction.
Cash on hand, Greene added, has gone from just over $5 million in 2010, to just under $15 million now, but not without crests and spikes in spending and receiving large lifts from ESSER, the 2019-20 bond sale and the state’s $10 million CTE grant.
It’s here where board chair Jo Alyce Harper aired a grievance.
Furthermore, of the district’s $36.9 million in spending, and accounting for building projects, Greene said 37% went to salaries outright, 20% went to employee benefits, 12% went to construction, 9% went to property, 9% went to supplies, and 3% or less went to balance transfers, technical services, property services and other contractual obligations.
In other school news:
— Superintendent Rex Booth has created an award called “The Will of the Wildcats,” celebrating the good deeds of those in the district, and Thursday night he doled it out to three Trigg County High schoolers in Camila Tenorio, Brody Renfroe and David Cavanaugh.
A year ago, Tenorio was struggling with her English as a transfer student, and was working on an STLP project with Sadie Utter to help non-English speaking students and teachers break down those barriers.
Now, she is English fluent without much help from a coach or digital translator, serves as a junior ambassador for the school, and next week will be presenting a new STLP project involving the use of artificial intelligence to further tear down language gaps.
Meanwhile, Booth noted that Renfroe and Cavanaugh recently took leadership and sportsmanship to the next level at the state cross country meet.
— As Kentucky’s leading provider of workers’ compensation, KEMI’s Safety & Loss Control Manager Jeff Floyd presented Trigg County Schools with one of this year’s 27 “Destiny” awards. It’s a prestigious honor commending workplace safety, and the award symbolizes what an organization can do to improve, and maintain, workplace safety.
Trigg County Schools, Floyd set, met benchmarks in the last three years, and demonstrated the ability to manage and mitigate any potential problems in daily work life. And as such, the district received a $12,500 premium return from its policyholder.
— Booth also said that leadership from the Kentucky Department of Education has announced that 31 high schools have received a prestigious “College Success” award from the nation’s leading non-profit school information site greatschools.org.
Trigg County High School is one of them.
— Board members opted to accept a one-year contract with AI weapons detection company ZeroEyes for $21,000. Booth said officials will come on campus to do an audit to see which cameras best fit for safety precautions, but local leadership will have full autonomy and final say on which devices will be used for scanning purposes. It is likely, Booth added, that the service is installed before the beginning of the Spring 2025 semester.
— Under the recommendations of Food Services Director Lisa Marsh, board members also approved for Booth to send out an RFP valued at $300,000 for the installation of new food lines at the Trigg County Schools Cafeteria. Marsh said Fund 51 will pay for the project, but also asked for new flooring in that area while the lines are being replaced. Greene said that RFP would have to be paid from the general fund, and would be a later ask to the board.
Marsh confirmed those lines haven’t been replaced since the cafeteria’s construction in the early 2000’s, and that by replacing them, it would bring more quality to meals, while completing the facility’s full overhaul in the last half decade.
— Under the recommendations of Transportation Director Scott Schrock, board members also approved the purchase of a new International school bus valued at just under $$170,000. At 72 passengers, it would be able to handle the growing day care routes, while serving as a reliable backup alongside the electric fleet.
The model he recommended has adjustable pedals, a 100-gallon fuel tank, four cameras, more than 100 feet of either-side storage, tinted windows to reduce heating and cooling needs, an Intellipark breaking system, and air conditioning.
Furthermore, Schrock said a demo had already been checked out at the bus garage, and that his drivers and mechanics appreciated its less restrictive view, its comfort and its better factory quality. Greene, meanwhile, stated that two special needs busses ordered in October 2023 have yet to arrive in Trigg County, and urged that orders had to happen so far in advance because of these production delays.
