Murchison ISD ranks financially superior
By Nathan Straus News Reporter

Murchison Independent School district received its report card on financial integrity, and it got an "A" for "Superior Achievement", the school's board revealed Tuesday, October 16. The Financial Integrity Rating System of Texas took a look at Murchison ISD's financial data from September, 2005 through August, 2006; the school answered "Yes" to all 21 questions, the report card stated.

Scott Beene, superintendent of Murchison ISD, said the rating means the school is within the state's financial regulations.

"It's a really good thing," Beene said.

The board also discussed a policy update affecting the school, but Beene said no policies were changed as a result of the update.

The school's calendar, however, took a slight change as the bad weather day on April 28 was moved to May 5.

There was an issue which saw a greatly divided board regarding an amendment to the board procedures manual. The discussion centered around a choice of amendments concerning meal reimbursement for board members on school trips.

"We debated whether we wanted to roll unused meal dollars back or not to roll them back," Beene said.

Under the board procedures manual, breakfast carries a reimbursement of $8, lunch covers $11 and $14 is allowed for dinner. Because it can be difficult to spend as much as $8 on breakfast, or as little as $14 for supper, some members were against the idea of not allowing the unused dollars to be used at any meal throughout the day.

However, the board passed an amendment to disallow the accumulation of meal money by not spending more money earlier in the day.

Another item up for discussion was the date to be set for the board's annual team building workshop. The month of November was decided upon, but an exact date wasn't set.

Also up for consideration next month will be bids for new basketball goals in the gym.

"My projection is between $10,000-15,000," Beene said.

Beene also said he would return with a selection of bids next meeting.

The board then went into a closed meeting to discuss the resignation of junior high math teacher Sam Scott. Beene said he was not at liberty to discuss the reasons for Scott's resignation.

"He's been a good teacher; we're sorry to have to lose him," Beene said.