Last Thursday’s monthly meeting of the Corbin Independent Board of Education was a night of firsts in some ways.
It was not only the first meeting of 2025, but it was also the first meeting ever for newly elected board members David Hannah and Ben Childers. It was also the first meeting back for board member Kim Croley, who left the board two years ago but was elected back onto the board this past November.
Board members Todd Childers, Dr. Keith Gibson and Stephen Mulberry all opted not to seek re-election last year.
After the roll call, the first item of business was for Whitley District Judge Cathy Prewitt to administer the oath of office to Croley, Hannah and Ben Childers.
The trio gave the customary chuckle as Prewitt administered the oath of office asking them to swear, among other things, that they had never participated in a duel or served as a second during a duel. This oath is administered to office holders all over the state.
“The reality is that we have a really good school board and have had for numbers and numbers of years. We really appreciate you new folks stepping up and helping,” said Superintendent Dave Cox.
The board then unanimously elected board member Carcille Burchette to serve as the new chairperson of the board, and Paul Taylor to serve as vice-chair.
Burchette noted that she feels very honored to be entrusted to serve as chairperson.
Cox added that it is really nice to have qualified people serving on the board, who really care.
Also, during Thursday’s meeting, the board received a copy of the draft budget for the 2025-2026 fiscal year.
Chief Financial Officer Rhonda Moore noted that the draft budget is one of three budgets that the district is required to complete annually along with the tentative budget in May and the working budget in September.
Moore noted that it is difficult to project a budget six months out, but these budgets are required under state law. She added that the district is “very, very stable,” from a financial perspective.
“This year we are fortunate to know the guaranteed base for Support Education Excellence in Kentucky (SEEK) funding per pupil and when combined with an estimate for AADA (annual average daily attendance), we expect to receive an increase in SEEK funding. Being mindful of the previous years, we know it’s reasonable for tax assessments to increase, which may have an offsetting effect on SEEK funding increases,” Cox and Moore wrote in a budget summary for the board.
“This budget has been developed with all known information but is still very conservative because tax revenue has not been estimated and staffing has not yet been adjusted. We intentionally monitor various data points throughout each school year so that the district’s tentative budget in May and final working budget in September are progressively more accurate and informative.”
The budgeted contingency is $3,180,298 or about 12 percent of the total budget. The state requires a minimum contingency of 2 percent but recommends a contingency of at least 5 percent.
Moore noted that the district’s tax rate has been lowered or has stayed the same for the last four years due to increased property tax assessments. As the property tax assessments increase, the board tries to set a rate that will generate about as much tax revenue as the prior year.
She said the district tries to issue its property tax bills in September so that people will have longer to pay their bills with at the 2 percent discounted rate.
The 2025-2026 fiscal year draft budget projects $3,485,000 collected in ad valorem taxes, which includes things, such as general property tax payments, delinquent property tax payments and motor vehicle tax payments in addition to $588,000 in utility tax collection.
Total revenues are projected to be $35,117,001.86.
In addition, the board received the Comprehensive District Improvement Plan (CDIP) and the Comprehensive School Improvement Plan (CSIP) for each school in the district.
The long-term five-year goal is to increase elementary reading proficiency from 65 percent to 70 percent, middle school reading proficiency from 70 percent to 74 percent, and high school reading proficiency from 65 percent to 68.5 percent.
The long-term five-year goal for math is to increase elementary math proficiency from 70 percent to 71.5 percent, middle school math proficiency from 58 percent to 65 percent, and high school math proficiency from 54 percent to 56.5 percent.
In other business, the board met in executive session but took no formal action.
