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UNION — During Monday night’s meeting of the Union County Board of School Trustees, District Finance Officer Lynn Lawson presented board members with the district’s monthly budget report.

“With four months remaining in the fiscal year, the district is operating ‘on target’ with year-to-date budgeted revenue and expenditures,” Lawson said.

Lawson said the district’s year-to-date revenue is $12,686,231 — $10.8 million from state funding and $1.8 million from local taxes. He also said the expenditures posted include salaries and benefits at $11,999,010 and operating expenses (utilities, technology, supplies, contract services, insurance, etc.) at $2,246,951. Net results posted as of Feb. 20 are $1,559,730.

Lawson pointed out that local taxes claimed from the county treasurer — property taxes, fee-in-lieu of taxes and federal forestry funds — totaled approximately $3 million flipping the year-to-date operating results from a negative $1.5 million to a positive $1.5 million.

“This is a good illustration of the importance of having an adequate fund balance to pay bills and make payroll during the months when we are waiting on cash flow cycles from state and local funding sources,” Lawson said.

BES Annual Report Card

Monday’s meeting also included a presentation from Buffalo Elementary School Principal Melissa Inman regarding the school’s annual report card. Inman said the school received an absolute rating of “good,” an improvement rating of “good,” and did meet AYP (adequate yearly progress), receiving a ESEA federal accountability grade of 98.8, which is an “A.”

Inman also stated the following strengths and challenges for BES:

Strengths

• A grade of A was received for the Federal Accountability Rating System deeming BES a reward school.
• The school met 98.8 percent of objectives in order to meet AYP.
• Out of 305 students tested, 81.7 percent scored Met or Exemplary in ELA (Reading and Research).
• Out of 305 students tested, 80.3 percent scored Met or Exemplary in math.
• Only 19 schools in the state with a rating of good and with students like ours scored better.
• Dedicated parents who volunteer, serve on the School Improvement Council, and the PTA help BES be the best we can be.

Challenges

• To continue to meet the needs of our special needs population in reading in math.
• To increase the number of students scoring Met and Exemplary in ELA, math, science and social studies.
• To continue to make improvements for children going from third to fourth grade and fourth to fifth grade.
• To make the transition from fifth to sixth grade as smooth as possible.
• To increase the number of children reading on grade level by the end of the second grade.

Staff Writer Derik Vanderford can be reached at 864-427-1234, ext. 29, or by email at dvanderford@civitasmedia.com.