HUTCHINSON, Kan. — The USD 308 Board of Education honored several outstanding staff members at their meeting on Monday (September 12, 2022).
Several staff members were honored at Monday’s meeting for awards that they received for their outstanding service to the USD 308 school district. These staff members included:
- USD 308 Teacher of the Year: Brian McCandless, Hutchinson High School
- KSDE Teacher of the Year Finalist: Carly Torres, Wiley Elementary
- KSDE Teacher of the Year Semi-Finalist: Rhyanna Reilly, Hutchinson High School
- 21-22 Horizon Award Winner: Jazzmyn Tolbert, Graber Elementary
Sheila Berridge, Assistant Superintendent of Curriculum and Assessment, gave a brief overview of each award and thanked the recipients for their service to the students and families of USD 308.
Students from Allen STEM Magnet also presented to the Board of Education at the meeting, sharing their experience being named National Champions at the KidWind competition in the Spring of 2022. They demonstrated their wind turbine and answered questions from board members on the competition.
Also the board held its Revenue Neutral Rate and budget hearings and approved this year's budget.
According to the Revenue Neutral Rate slide from Sheila Meggers presentation to the board, the district is due to levy $6,036,676 in property tax on their approximately $78 million budget. This is down from $6,084,855 last year.
The main reason they can do that is that bond and interest is shrinking quickly, with the district's bonded indebtedness down just over $9 million from last year.
The Capital Outlay portion of the mill levy is going up, though, and thus they were required to hold the Revenue Neutral Rate hearing.