Put your mouth where CKSD’s money is

It’s not as if the Central Kitsap School District’s budget planning process is drawing much interest from parents or community members, but that isn’t stopping the cogs from turning.

Tonight’s school board meeting will be the latest chapter in the saga to balance the budget, as the district presents a “Budget Feedback Forum” at 7 p.m. at the Jenne-Wright Administration Center. District officials are inviting members of the public to attend the meeting to comment on budgetary decisions that will be presented by David McVicker, the district’s director of business and operations.

The forum is scheduled to start at 7:15 p.m.

Public comments will be taken prior to the conclusion of the board meeting, at about 9 p.m., CKSD Spokesman David Beil said.

The district’s budget meetings have drawn sparse attendance thus far.

The last school board meeting on April 23 was similarly hyped, in an attempt to draw public comments on the district’s spending of I-728 funds. That meeting only drew a few people and no one opted to comment at any point.

McVicker and Superintendent Greg Lynch headed up a public meeting outside of the usual school board meeting schedule in mid-April to help clarify the district’s budget shortfall for next school year. Only 13 people showed up to that event, most of whom were district employees.

The turnout issue has hardly been surprising to district officials, who watched attendance at public meetings dwindle during last year’s deliberations over whether or not to close Seabeck and Tracyton elementary schools and then boom once a final decision was set to be made.

Also on the agenda tonight, the School Configuration and School Closure Study Committee — dubbed “SC3” by the district — is expected to provide an update of its progress to date. The committee is exploring reconfiguration options for secondary schools in the district — which grades should be grouped together in which schools — and whether the closure of another school or schools could be necessary or feasible.

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