#KSD Ready & Resilient
Update from Kuna Superintendent Wendy Johnson
12.4.2020
- We have had a good week, thank you!
- KSD Board asks health district to allow activities to continue
- School property tax rates dropping allow communities to shape priorities for their schools, children
- Congratulations to our fall All Conference Athletes
- KTVB features Hubbard teacher as innovative educator
- Ross gets grant for library
- Weekly COVID update
We have had a good week, thank you!
We have had a pretty normal week of school for a pandemic.
Thank you to everyone who has worked hard to follow the guidelines for safe gatherings during this challenging time. Our efforts are making a difference for our children.
KSD Board asks health district to allow activities to continue
Tonight, the Central District Board of Health in response to the increases in COVID cases and the concerns about hospital capacity, will consider a new order restricting activities in Ada County. Among the activities identified for restriction are youth extra curricular programs.
We don't agree with the proposed restrictions on youth programs. Our staff and students have done a terrific job following protocols, and we do not see evidence that our district programs are contributing to the spread of COVID in our community. Our Board agrees and sent the letter below to the health district board.
We appreciate the leadership shown by the Central District Health Department during the pandemic and have followed their recommendations that allow us to serve students in person during this pandemic. We hope they will continue to allow our programs to operate.
The agenda for tonight's meeting is posted here and it will be live streamed at this site.
Ross gets grant for library
School property tax rates dropping allow communities to shape priorities for their schools, children
If you own property in the district, you recently received your tax bill in the mail. As we shared earlier this year, our tax rate continues to go down. This year it drops from $4.88 per $1,000 of taxable value to $4.09 of taxable value. Overall, the district will collect less taxes than the prior year.
Property taxes are an important tool for an entire community to directly impact their schools by approving levies to build spaces for students (bond for buildings) and by approving levies to support teachers and students (levy for learning). By the way, the other way entire communities directly impact their schools? Voting for your school trustees.
As you look at the chart above, you'll see our tax rate is comprised of several parts highlighted by different colors. Two of the biggest pieces -- the blue and dark gray chunks -- don't happen without your approval. Blue represents our bonds for buildings and dark gray labeled Supp. M&O is our levy for learning.
In 2016-17, our school trustees worked with the community and created a plan to proactively manage the tremendous growth we predicted would and is happening.
The #growingforward plan identified a schedule for bonds for buildings and for an ongoing two-year levy for learning to meet immediate needs identified by our community.
The current levy approved in 2019 provided $5 million for the 2019-20 and 2020-21 school years. The funding supported these priority areas identified by the community:
- Adding teachers to address overcrowding, expand Career Technical programs, and offer full time kindergarten
- Providing new materials for students and teachers: Chromebooks (essential now in the pandemic), musical instruments, and English curriculum
- Supporting safety and prevention with our school resource officers, behavior supports and building improvements.
By law, this levy is limited to two years so it will expire in March 2021. On Tuesday, the Board of Trustees will be discussing the next steps, and we will be reaching out to you again to see if these priorities are important and what others may have emerged since 2019.
The next election date for our community to consider any measure would be March 9, 2021.
Superintendent Wendy Johnson
Email: ksdcommunications@kunaschools.org
Website: www.kunaschools.org
Location: 711 East Porter Street, Kuna, ID, USA
Phone: 208-922-1000
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Kuna-Jt-School-District-No-3
Twitter: @Supt_Wendy_J