School board gives bonuses, raises with surplus funds

Hot Springs County School District’s Board of Directors held a special meeting last week to approve budget amendments, pay final bills and approve the hiring of three new members of the district’s team.

Katie Despain was approved as a new hire to be a summer food service cook, Cassidy VanKirk was hired as RWE SpEd paraprofessional along with Kacey Cahill, also hired as an RWE SpEd paraprofessional. Cahill and VanKirk will both start their positions with the coming school year.

The board moved on to approve the payment of some final bills as they have reached the end of the budget year.

The final item on the special agenda was moving 10-percent of funding, as approved by state statute, into a depreciation reserve account for major purchases. That amount will be just over $1.24 million.

Currently, there is a surplus in funding, due in large part to the freeze on transportation purchases by the state and changes made in transportation overall.

Because of the surplus, the board was able to give bonuses to staff earlier this year as a thank you for making the transition so quickly to the distance learning model once COVID-19 hit. They are also bringing back a few positions and giving raises with the surplus.

The board is moving this money to the depreciation account now since they have a surplus and it could be used for any number of things, such as new playground equipment, larger items they may need in the woodshop, furniture or other items they may need for COVID-19 to keep students safe.

There are some things the board has had their eye on for a while but haven’t moved on those purchases due to cost. Now they can do those things now that would benefit the kids. They are being conservative, but are glad that now they may be able to purchase those items.

The good news is, too, there is about $500,000 left over from the high school bond issue that can be used specifically for the high school, opening up some of the other funds for the other schools.

The board approved moving the funds into the depreciation reserve account as their last item of the evening.