Board members and staff at the May workshop described an unsettled legislative environment and warned that state-level decisions could affect the district’s budget and some policies.

Staff told the board that the state budget process was delayed and that, if revenue determinations were postponed into July, the district could face difficulties with the second property-tax (millage) calculation needed for the TRIM process. Finance staff explained the district must produce a second calculation tied to required local effort once revenue guidance is final; a prolonged impasse would push the district into “uncharted territory.”

On specific bills, the board discussed a K–8 cellphone ban that had passed both legislative chambers and been transmitted to the governor but had not yet been signed. Superintendent and staff also described a DOE pilot the legislature authorized that could subject selected high schools to stricter cellphone rules; the district said it could insert conditional language in the student-code-of-conduct advertisement to apply a ban if the district is selected for the pilot.

Members reviewed legislation on a school guardian program. Staff summarized that, where a local school board adopts a guardian program, the county sheriff is required to provide training for the guardians; the board clarified this training obligation applies when a county board adopts such a program. The board also noted that the statutory time window for a principal’s responsibility for student safety was narrowed to 30 minutes before and after school; district staff said that reduced the hours when an armed guardian would be required on campus.

Board members and staff discussed voucher and charter funding mechanics and several calculation issues the Department of Education is addressing. Staff said the state has been working to refine FTE (full-time-equivalent) counting and codes so that funding follows the student and so districts can record when a student leaves for a voucher or returns. The board described prior errors in third- and fourth-calculation rounds that under- or double-counted students and said the department had been asked to develop a more reliable coding process in the student information system.

The board also reviewed a complex “train” package of bills that included a variety of education provisions; some elements passed, others failed. Board members noted that some bills likely to return in the next legislative session would affect course credit rules and other academic requirements.

No formal board action was taken at the workshop on any of these legislative items. Staff said they would continue to prepare budget scenarios (including a worst-case-house-version projection) and proposed code-of-conduct language in case the district is chosen for the high-school cellphone pilot.