From the Desk of Mr. Patrick McKernan
Dear USD 429 Parents, Guardians and Patrons:
It is safe to say, after the temperatures of the last few days, we're in the heart of summer. I have enjoyed seeing many of you and your children at the ball field, summer school, on the playground, and around town. I still get a chuckle when your child must do a double take of me, when they see me, dressed in my shorts and t-shirt. I have mentioned before how busy the district office and our support staff are in the summer. This summer is no different. There is a lot of wear and tear on the buildings and between Tom Jenkins fixing it and Brian Clary, Amy Smith, and Kathy Smith cleaning it, a lot needs done. It has been a struggle to keep up with the mowing and weed eating but these are good problems to have.
I anticipate our enrollment holding steady for the coming school year. This could be better news, but we don’t want to keep going the other way. As the funding from the state stays steady, our expenses continue to grow. We continue to see 10-20 percent increases in all goods and services. You might be seeing this in your own household as well. As always, we will continue to look for ways to shave costs and try to reduce spending, yet still provide a good quality education for your child. This is getting tougher to do every year in these tough economic times. We continue to have one of the lowest mill levies in the state and we would like to keep it that way. We can still generate a sizable percentage of state aid through our local option budget. This local money helps when the state dollars are not as plentiful for us as they use to be. We may need to discuss an increase in our local mills to help offset some of these rising costs.
I hope you and your families are enjoying your time together. I suspect it is going faster than you would like. Take time to slow down and enjoy the days and nights together, because they go by so quickly.
Patrick E. McKernan
Superintendent of Schools
Troy USD 429