By Jamie Miller
The annual report for the 2011-2012 school year at Bryant was introduced at the September[more] meeting of the Board of Education Monday night.
The report verified the continuing trend of increased enrollment over the years. It also noted the new facilities throughout the district as well as the financial status of the district.
With the start of the 2012-2013 school year, the Bryant district added 20 new positions to address areas of growth and instructional objectives. Even through there was an increase in personnel, spending for the District still represents approximately 80 percent of the total Expenditure Budget for 2012-13.
The Academic Performance report showed that Bryant Public Schools "surpassed state averages of students scoring proficient and advanced in every category of Benchmark Testing."
Going forward, the District is striving to balance the demand for resources needed for future enrollment growth. According to the report, "Every effort is being made to seek out operational efficiencies and to plan ahead for the best possible uses of limited resources in support of the District's mission and goals."
With all of the construction that has been completed this past summer for the 2012-13 school year, Richard Stipe, District Treasurer, communicated some concerns about technology that was installed throughout the different sites. A quarter of a million square feet of construction has been completed for upwards of $50 million but some operational and learning technologies were not installed properly and are being worked out currently on several campuses throughout the district.
The 2012-13 annual school budget was presented and approved at the meeting to stay in compliance with the Arkansas Department of Education. The budget has to be included in the annual Cycle 1 Report that is submitted to the ADE.
"It is almost impossible to get all budgets to a zero balance but the budgets are planned accordingly for an entire school year," Stipe said.
The 13-year-old Bryant Babe Ruth baseball team beat Greenville, N.C., 4-3 to claim the title of World Series champs earlier this summer and the players were all recognized for their great achievement at Monday’s meeting.
