The Lincoln County School District’s Budget Committee approved the 2019-20 Proposed Budget as presented on May 16, 2019. Interested members of the community can access the budget document on the District’s website or by visiting the administrative offices at 1212 NE Fogarty Street between 8:00 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday.
A public budget hearing will be held at 7:00 p.m. on June 11, 2019 at Newport High School’s Boone Center. Time will be given for public comment on the approved budget prior to the board’s adoption of the budget after the budget hearing.
The District’s State School Fund revenue is projected to increase by $4,536,891 due in part to one-time increases in local revenue statewide and to the recent passage of a $9 billion State School Fund. This increase allowed the District to fund all Counselors and Bi-Lingual Tutors from the General Fund rather than relying on federal grants to fund these positions. The District increased Licensed FTE and Bilingual Tutor support to several schools to meet specific needs at those schools. The increase allowed for a Vice Principal at Sam Case which is the last large elementary school to add this position.
The District is also able to fund the newly adopted reading curriculum and professional development for teachers on the new curriculum in order to improve reading scores across the District. Reading is critical to skills development in all other areas and will be a major focus for improvement in 2019-20.
In addition to these increases, the District’s spending plan is targeted to implement AVID strategies in all grades district wide (Advancement Via Individual Determination), provide equity and access to opportunities for all students, increase graduation rates and college and career readiness, implement district wide multi-tiered systems of behavior support and implement a 1:1 technology initiative.