The city school district has been searching for a superintendent for nearly a year, and after Monday night’s board meeting, they may soon be looking for a new attorney.
The school board voted 3-2 not to renew Board Attorney David Dunn’s contract, despite strong support from Board President Tommy Prude and board member Glenn Lautzenhiser.
Board members Currie Fisher, Aubra Turner and Jason Spears voted against the measure, saying they want to make a cost-comparison between Dunn’s services and that of other local attorneys.
Because legal counsel is a professional service, the board is not required to advertise the position, but Prude said he didn’t feel there was enough time between now and the end of Dunn’s contract next month to find another attorney. With the imminent hiring of a new superintendent, and for the sake of continuity, he urged the board to settle the matter quickly.
“There is no school board attorney in my opinion in the state of Mississippi that is more knowledgeable and more experienced than Mr. Dunn,” Lautzenhiser said. “He’s done a terrific job for us. He has kept this board and this district out of trouble.”
Dunn has served as the board’s attorney more than 20 years. The board will be without legal representation unless they find a replacement for Dunn before his three-year contract expires in June.
The board also moved forward with plans to rehire 49 of 68 teachers and certified staff who were told in April their contracts would not be renewed due to budgetary concerns.
Interim Superintendent Martha Liddell said the cost-saving measure will not be necessary now given the amount of local, state and federal dollars the district expects next year.
School principals have been green-lighted to begin the rehiring process, and Monday night, the board reaffirmed their decision not to weigh executive leadership as part of the hiring process for first- and second-year teachers, who constituted the bulk of the reduction in force.
“Many times when you’re just beginning in a building, although you’ll have numerous opportunities to show leadership, sometimes you don’t have that in year one and two,” Liddell said.
Gov. Phil Bryant approved the state education budget Friday, allocating $2.3 billion for education, including $19 million in allocations for the Mississippi Adequate Education Program. But although school districts throughout the state were funded at last year’s levels, much of it will be offset by a $23 million increase in retirement costs.
Even with state funding remaining level this year, the Columbus Municipal School District will be short $2.37 million in needed funds.
But ad valorem taxes seem to finally be on track, Chief Financial Officer Kenneth Hughes reported. The district requested $13,391,187 in August, but at the time stated that based upon the budget, they actually needed $14.33 million in ad valorem taxes, which would have resulted in a 9-mill tax increase.
Instead, the district’s request resulted in a 2.9 mill tax increase, raising the total millage to 65.87.
With three months remaining in the school district’s fiscal year, they have collected $12,347,671 in ad valorem taxes — 95 percent of their request. Hughes said only $620,455 was collected in ad valorem taxes in April, May and June of last year, but the district will need $691,899 to break even.
It’s a better financial picture than the district faced last year, which Hughes attributed to the millage rate now being set correctly.
“If you look at the amount to be collected for the final three months, it’s going to be very, very close,” Hughes said. “We could collect a little less or a little more, but the bottom line is we’re way ahead of where we were at this time last year.”
Carmen K. Sisson is the former news editor at The Dispatch.
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