During his superintendent’s report Monday evening Dr. Vic Wilson told the board of education members and those in attendance “Hartselle had a fabulous start, in fact one of the best starts to a new school year I have ever seen. This was a testament to the principals, teachers, students and parents.” He even mentioned both his son and daughter who are HCS students were so excited about the first day of school they could not wait until he arrived home to tell him about their day.

Wilson said HCS are up 30 students from last year and this will level off around September 1. He also mentioned Hartselle has five students who are virtual students only, and 75 students are taking virtual courses.

Prior to the meeting the first budget hearing for the 2015- 2016 school year was held and CFO Jonathan Craft presented the proposed budget.

The proposed budget presented shows total revenues to be $29.84 million and expenses projected to be $29 million with approximately $900,000 revenue over expenses by September 30, 2016. The revenue is comprised of state, federal, and local funding, with state and local funding being the largest contributors, with state funding 59.05% of the revenue and local funds 35.36%

In the expense portion of the proposed budget, instructional services that are comprised of any activities dealing directly with the interaction between teachers and students; require the largest percentage of funds at 56.28% of the proposed expenses.

In other agenda items the board approved:

•Payment of compensatory time balances to those employees who have compensatory time in excess of 20 hours; Lavonda Lang 342.78 hours, Brenda Byrd 191.88 hours and Jan Byrd 195.88 hours. This will get all board employees in compliance with the new Compensatory Time policy set by the board.

•Accepted bids of a Box Truck for the band program in the amount of $25,000, which will be paid for by the band program

•Approved a quote from United Technology Solutions for $11,160 to conduct a district wide fixed asset inventory. This should being in October and once the inventory is complete the system should be able to maintain the inventory.

•Approved a copier lease for Barkley Bridge

In personnel items:

•The board approved a leave of absence for Ana Boyer (HIS)

•Approved the resignation of Kimberly Fowler, speech pathologist at Burleson

•Approved the hiring of Cynthia Deanne Riddle as a special education teacher at Crestline.

•Approved supplements for Jeffrey Hanners, Asst. Boys Soccer coach at HHS, Yvonne Howard as eight-grade volleyball coach at HJHS and Jean Marie Davis, district lead nurse.

•Approved Bill Evans, Jr as a football and baseball volunteer at HHS

•Added Rachael Berryhill to the substitute list for the 2015 -2016 school year.

The second public hearing for the 2015-2016 budget will be held on Sept. 10, time to be announced later.