The Keene Sentinel reported, the Keene School District ended the 2012-13 school year with a surplus of just over $2.6 million.
Board member Kris E. Roberts reportedly “said he was frustrated by the discrepancy between the June figures and end-of-year numbers. For one, it’s hard for the district to maintain credibility when asking residents to support budget increases if there’s such a large surplus at the end of the year, he said.
Roberts also thinks the roughly $900,000 difference in surplus numbers between June and now cost the district in lost educational opportunities.”
So, he’s not so much worried about the board’s “credibility when asking residents to support budget increases”; he wanted to be able to spend the money! That’s not my opinion of what he said, he actually said he wanted to spend the money. “Roberts said if he’d known how much surplus money the district would have, he would have supported expanding the iPad program to all the elementary schools.”
The district started using iPads at Fuller School last year and officials want to expand the program to other schools. In March the board voted to spend $17,000 “for 50 iPads and training for teachers at Symonds School.” Based on my calculations, at $340 a piece; the $2.6 million surplus would purchase 7647 iPads, or 2 iPads per student with about $230,880 left over.
I wonder if anyone will remember these details in 6 months when the next budget is proposed?
