by Tyler Brown

The Mercer County School system could be facing some financial uncertainties in coming years.

The Board of Educationdiscussed Governor Matt Bevin’s proposed budget at their regular meeting on Thursday, Feb. 4, which makes cuts to funding for schools from the Kentucky Department of Education

(KDE). Superintendent Dennis Davis explained to the board exactly how much budget cuts would effect their programs and services.

“KDE will make a 4.5 percent reduction this school year, and another 9 percent reduction in 2016-2017,” Davis said. He went on to explain that money would also be lost in the 2017-2018 school year, which is approximately $35.8 million in funding.

“It gets me fired up,” Davis said. “Politicians say they’re not cutting K-12. Yes they are, and these are deep cuts.”

Financial officer Ruth Ann Cocanaugher did bring some good news before the board after the budget was discussed. She said the Mercer County Senior High School has been successfully refinanced and that the savings would be more than initially thought.

“All of the things were in the right place,” Cocanaugher said. “Now we’ll save $1.5 million from now until 2027.” The initial savings, which were just over $70,000 a year, have increased to approximately $133,000 a year.

Other business at the meeting included:

• Superintendent Davis gave his report on the Titan Learning Days, a program started for when students are out of school due to weather. Mercer County Schools had their first Titan Learning Day on Jan. 21. Davis said there were a few glitches in the process but nothing they couldn’t handle and students were very receptive to being able to communicate with teachers outside of school.

“Overall, the response we’ve had has been very positive,” Davis said.

Davis also showed those in attendance pictures of the bleachers at Alvis Johnson Field being put into place. He said he has been told construction on the bleachers should be completed by Saturday, Feb. 13.

• Mercer County head football coach David Buchanan gave an update on Mercer County’s random drug testing program after the first two rounds.

“Less than three percent of students have had positive tests,” Buchanan said. “Zero percent of staff have tested positive.”

Buchanan praised the board for their part in getting the program up and running and said he would do his very best to continue moving forward with the program.

“You all did the hard work,” Buchanan said. “Thank you for allowing me to be a part of it.”

• Auditor Joe Montgomery presented the auditor’s report for the 2015 fiscal year. Montgomery explained that overall, the district was in good financial standing and that no wrongful spending or

placement of funds had been found. He also explained a new line in the school’s budget called New Pension Liability, which relates to the County Employee Retirement System (CERS). The liability shows what the district would have to pay should the CERS system fail, which is $4,612,000. Montgomery said this had been added to other school district’s budget sheets, as well, and this was not something the board would be writing a check for. It was solely there for their knowledge so themselves and other districts would be aware of this liability payment, though he did not anticipate this failure occurring.

“It’s too big to fail,” Montgomery said.

The next regularly scheduled meeting for the Mercer County Board of Education will be Thursday, Feb. 18, at 5:30 p.m., in the Mercer County Senior High School auditorium.