All employees for the Adair County school system will receive a 2 percent raise for the next year in addition to any step raises based on years of employment. The Adair County School Board voted unanimously to approve the raise at the May 15 meeting.
The board reviewed a position of grant writer that was created for the 2024-25 school year. Holly Trowbridge reported that she has applied for 21 grants. Eight were funded, eight were denied, and five are still pending. Due to the creation of that position, $612,500 has been received by the school system in grants for various projects.
The tentative budget was discussed for the 2025-26 school year.
“We have got to make an investment in curriculum. I have stressed that since the day that you hired me,” Superintendent Jason Faulkner said. “Before anything else, we have to provide resources to our teachers and students.”
This includes updated textbooks, consumables, and curriculum materials to help students learn, he added. “I will push for it to be a part of our budget as long as I am here”.
Jaimie Wisdom, chief financial officer, gave a breakdown of the budget to show where money was going. She said that “54% of our budget went toward students. We are good; we are spending more than half of our budget on instruction for our kids.”
Operations and maintenance is 10% and transportation is 10% of the budget. Transportation-Maintenance Director Steve Burton told board members that Faulkner had encouraged him to work on ways to be more efficient with both the buses and the maintenance departments.
Burton said he has done so by looking at routes, reducing inventory that is not in use, cutting routes, and looking for other ways to reduce costs.
Burton also said, “I am eager to see what my figures are this year as far as transportation per pupil and per mile, because I know it’s going to be more efficient.”
J R Thompson spoke about the FBLA program. Julie Burton chartered a new chapter at Adair County Middle School this year. Adair has one of the largest delegations in Kentucky, with 146 students, and the program is one of the top three in the state. Adair County FBLA has been named a gold seal chapter, which is extremely hard to earn, according to Thompson.
The board approved a $4,000 stipend for FBLA members who qualified to attend the National FBLA competition in California.
Several students were recognized at the meeting by Jason Rector for their achievements in the student technology leadership program, known as STLP.
“Since you all went above and beyond for your school and our district, I personally went above and beyond to have each of you all commissioned as a Commonwealth Ambassador, which is the highest honor that a person 18 years of age or younger can be bestowed upon them by the Commonwealth of Kentucky,” said Rector.
Arraya Phelps was also recognized by the board for her achievement in HOSA. She was presented the award by Jennifer Carter, HOSA sponsor, and Superintendent Jason Faulkner.
By Amy Pike
amy@adairvoice.com