The Ocean City High School
The Ocean City School District is starting to prepare its budget for the next school year.
The administration on Wednesday reported to the Board of Education on requests for new classes and programs.
The following new initiatives include costs for equipment, supplies or training:
- Elective Class in Video Game Design: $1,800
- Elective Class in Sports Medicine: $1,500
- Advance Placement Environmental Science: $7,000 (including $6,100 for books)
- Honors American Sign Language III (only I and II exist now): $3,000
- Progressive Science Initiative: $2,700
- New Spanish Textbooks: $11,500
- New K-3 Reading and Writing Series: $10,000
- District-Wide Technology Upgrades (including wireless routers in every classroom, message archiver, replacement of teacher computers, etc.): $217,500
The $10,000 for the K-3 reading and writing series and $152,500 of the technology budget will be requests for new funding. All other expenses fall within last year's budget numbers.
One central component of the new Progressive Science Initiative is a new sequence for science courses — with students taking algebra-based physics as freshmen, chemistry as sophomores, biology as juniors, and Advanced Placement physics, chemistry or biology as seniors.
"Physics is the foundation of all the sciences," Mikenzie Helphenstine, the district's curriculum director, told the board on Wednesday.
And she said it's applied in the other science classes (even biology) in ways that it never was for older generations.
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At the same meeting, the board accepted the Comprehensive Annual Finance Report (CAFR) and Auditor's Management Report (AMR) from independent auditor Ford-Scott & Associates.
The CAFR included no findings.
"I'm very impressed with how well this district is run financially," Bob Swartz of Ford-Scott said.
The AMR included five minor findings that Swartz characterized as "nothing of any great concern and easily fixed." The corresponding recommendations were related to procedures in payroll and reporting.
Swartz noted the district's relatively low level of debt and its excess in surplus funds.
