Lyle schools looking to extend levy
Published 9:37 am Tuesday, August 16, 2011
There are big things going on in Lyle Public Schools this year.
Lyle Public School board members voted Monday night to approve an operational levy vote for the upcoming November election. The board voted to ask citizens to extend the current levy, which brings in about $159,000 to the district. The levy, if approved, would continue for the next 10 years.
The board made a few change-ups at the meeting as well. Instead of allowing Superintendent Jim Dusso to pursue a line of short-term credit, board members approved appointing Springsted Inc., a company specializing in public sector finances, as its financial adviser. Dusso said he’d much rather use Springsted’s services to propose solutions on how Lyle could deal with the upcoming shift in state aid payments.
“I’d rather do that than ask the board for $250,000 and then come to you a month later saying I should’ve asked for $100,000 more,” Dusso said Monday.
The board didn’t approve everything on the agenda, however. Board members voted 4-2 against a 5 cent increase in student lunch prices for the upcoming year, as several board members didn’t want to raise prices without first seeing if staff reductions would balance Lyle’s food budget.
“We’re already higher than other people,” said Kent Goldberg, board member.
The proposal was made to recover losses from milk and bread price increases over the coming year. Lyle’s food and nutrition fund was over budget last year and board members want to keep costs low. Dusso will review the food and nutrition fund later this year and report back to the board on the fund’s status.
In addition, Lyle’s start time will shift by five minutes. Dusso told board members Lyle schools will start at 8:10 a.m. this year and end at 2:46 p.m. to keep it on schedule with Grand Meadow and Glenville/Emmons Public Schools. All these schools are part of a general education consortium that shares resources, in this case iTV classes where students can take classes via video conference. Though Lyle students don’t have iTV classes, a Lyle Spanish teacher will teach several sections of Spanish I to GM and G/E students this fall.