By Josh Bergeron
josh.bergeron@salisburypost.com

SALISBURY — When the Rowan-Salisbury School Board meets Monday, it will hear a budget presentation that includes $1.56 million in needs for the 2019-2020 year.

During the 1 p.m. meeting at the Wallace Education Forum, 500 N. Main St., the presentation will lay out a budget timeline that includes April 18 as the deadline to send a budget message to the Rowan County Board of Commissioners, responsible for allocating funding to the school system. While documents included with the agenda do not fully detail potential budget increases or decreases, there are four specific items listed as “prioritized budget needs.”

Those needs include $260,000 to pay for two social workers and two nurses for Student Support Services, $300,000 to pay off-duty law enforcement officers for work at elementary schools, $500,000 in incremental maintenance costs and another $500,000 to bring some salaries in line with a recent study.

To stay in line with a timetable included in Monday’s presentation, the Rowan-Salisbury School Board would need to approve a budget message at its March 25 meeting. The school system would then complete a position allotment process by March 29, finish budget discussions with school principals by April 15, submit a budget message to the Rowan County Board of Commissioners by the April deadline and finish budget planning meetings by mid-May.

By the end of July, the Rowan-Salisbury School System would finalize its budget. That budget would be presented to the school board for final approval in late August.

In other business:

• The school board is scheduled to continue discussing its ongoing redistricting process as well as the potential creation of a career and technical education high school at Koontz Elementary.

• Anthony Vann will speak to the school board about the partial demolition of the former Cleveland Elementary School.

Rowan County commissioners plan to take ownership of the elementary school property after partial demolition is complete and  use the former school’s media center to create a west branch of the Rowan Public Library. Commissioners have also briefly discussed whether to build an EMS station on the site, too.

• Chairman Josh Wagner will discuss board meeting times.

• Kelly Street, director of early childhood education, will give a presentation that proposes adding a tuition-based preschool at Mt. Ulla Elementary for the 2019-2020 school year.

• The school board will hear a presentation recommending that students be allowed to participate in hunter safety tournaments.

• Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum Julie Morrow will give a presentation about the district’s summer school program for the 2018-2019 year.

• Vice Chairwoman Susan Cox will discuss a school board self-assessment.