MEEKER | The Meeker School Board held its regular monthly meeting last week, with board member Heather Sauls absent. Before approving the agenda, the board made several changes, including adding a district celebration and a student celebration.
The board tabled Consent Agenda Item 5 due to missing tax information from the county needed for financial reports. They also addressed recent resignations by adding them to Action Item 1c, included an exemption from a policy provision as Action Item 4, and added an additional document to “Other Board Business.” After these changes were made, the agenda was approved.
Superintendent Chris Selle highlighted a district accomplishment: Meeker High School was named one of four finalists for a cash award presented annually by the M.W. Grand Lodge of Colorado. While the school didn’t win, Selle emphasized the significance of the recognition.
“We were selected as one of four finalists, and so if you think of the hundreds of high schools in the state of Colorado, the finalist is a pretty amazing accomplishment,” Selle said.
The school received a plaque last Monday in honor of this achievement.
For the student celebrations section of the meeting the board recognized Meeker High School senior Montey Franklin who was recognized for receiving a nomination to the United States Air Force Academy.
The board discussed the 2025-26 school year budget, noting that it will be impacted by Colorado’s significant budget shortfall. Selle said the district will prioritize finalizing this year’s budget after completing the mill levy certification and audit.
The mill levy certification document presented to the board was very similar to the one shared in the November board meeting. There was just one minor adjustment due to a reduced assessed valuation of $507 million which has now gone down a bit.
“Our mills would go up just a touch,” Selle explained. “We talked about [how] they’re going to fall somewhere in that 15 to 16 range overall. Instead of 15.871, there’s really not a lot that changed. It’s just a minor adjustment to the mills for both our mill levy override and our bonds.”
The board received the mill levy form from their independent auditor just two hours before the meeting. They considered several options, including requesting changes, filing for an extension until March 31, 2025, or approving the document with pending items. There were only three items that were pending on the mill levy form.
After hearing the three different options there was a motion to approve the mill levy as is, pending the three items that needed to be completed it was seconded. When it was time to vote, it passed unanimously with no disagreements between any of the members. Following the vote, the meeting was adjourned.
By JARED HENDERSON
