WHITE COUNTY, Ga.- The White County Board of Education approved the high school and middle school administrators’ request for a new vaping procedure for the 2022-23 school year.

The board also approved a tentative budget for the fiscal year 2023 at their meeting. After a student-led presentation, the board approved the formation of a new club at the middle school.

At the board’s work session on Tuesday, Apr. 26 the high school, middle school, and Warrior Academy administrators came before the board about the current vaping problem in schools. Sheriff Rick Kelley was also present at the meeting and gave the law enforcement side of things to the board. To review that meeting please visit https://white.fetchyournews.com/2022/04/27/board-considers-new-vaping-protocol/.

The board voted to approve the new procedures for students in the 6-12 grades. This will go into effect in Aug. when the new school year starts. The staff will meet with the board at the June meeting to explain the ways they plan to inform the parents and students of the new two-strike procedures.

The tentative budget features all the changes to revenue and expenditures.

The board also approved a tentative budget for the fiscal year 2023. The final budget will be set and approved at the Jun. 30 meeting. There are some projected increases in both revenues and expenditures in the new budget.

The projected revenues will be $41,704,310. The projected expenditures will be $42,964,405. The estimated fund balance from this fiscal year is $12,408,125. The estimated fund balance for the 2023 fiscal year is $11,148,030.

The majority of the expenditures will come from salary increases for the staff. There is also an increase in fuel cost due to the rising cost of gas at the pumps. The schools will also raise their operating budgets by 10% putting that number at $263,556. This comes after dropping the operating budgets by 20% during COVID.

There will be two public hearings for the budget before the vote. These numbers are tentative so there could be some change between now and Jun. To view the current fiscal year 2022 budget visit https://www.white.k12.ga.us/departments/financial-services/finance/fy-2022-final-budget.

Five seventh-grade students came before the board to request the formation of a student newspaper at the middle school. Julie Collins will be the teacher sponsor of the club. They plan on having between 10 and 12 person staff and putting out a newspaper every two weeks.

The paper will feature sports and academics as well as other things happening in the school. The staff will be made up of students in all grade levels at the middle school. The big launch will take place next school year but the students plan to put out one addition this school year to show the students what to expect.

The five students presented the Warrior Tribune club to the board.

To encourage the engagement of the students they will do surveys and give opportunities for feedback on what the student body likes and doesn’t like about the paper. The main goal these students have is to spread kindness in the school system.

“Someone said they will inflict, that’s pretty strong right, they will inflict kindness and positivity. What a great message for our school system” stated Superintendent Dr. Laurie Burkett.