LOCKNEY- Floyd County’s school districts both held meetings Tuesday night to set their operating budgets and tax rates for the 2023 year while also discussing school safety amid new state requirements.
Lockney’s school board began their evening also implementing a new reinvestment zone for the Rock Creek Wind Project, a wind farm that crosses Swisher, Briscoe and Floyd Counties. About one third of the project will be located in Lockney ISD’s boundaries, with the majority of the farm split between Tulia and Silverton. The project won’t bring the same windfall for the district as previous ones, but as board president Mike Lass summarized “Revenue is revenue.”
The board also unanimously approved an adopted budget for the school year of just under $7 million, with a tax rate of $1.1995 per $100 of property valuation.
The discussion then turned to school safety amid last spring’s incident in Uvalde, and new state requirements on exterior door safety. Superintendent Jim Baum said the district had spent just under $18,000 on exterior door hardware to bring them within state compliance. He said they were still waiting to hear from officials on other changes, and if full replacement at certain campuses would be required. If so, that could run in the $100,000 range.
The board reviewed the new district Emergency Operations Plan, with Baum commenting “I hope this is something we never have to deal with,” while simultaneously addressing the need of emotional support for teachers and students in understanding why they are now taking the precautions.
As Baum explained, the plan is broken up into multiple segments depending on the severity of the situation at hand. He said that part of the plan has included rekeying elementary school classroom doors to identify who does and does not need access to rooms. The board unanimously approved the plan.
