The county board must approve a budget for the County Office of Education. Currently, the superintendent formulates the budget and expects it to be approved. In the approval process, it should be examined and adjusted to provide the necessary services for the students in the at-risk schools and the districts, if necessary.
In 2004, the majority of the board approved a budget for the county office with only $30,000 for books in it out of a total budget of $37 million. The superintendent got a raise of 15% plus benefits, amounting to approximately the same amount. 89% of the students in these schools read below grade level. To fill in the gap, an organization that I belong to donated many books -- I personally donated 50!
It had been decided that books weren't needed even though the teachers were asking for them and the students were in a special program called "Write to Read."
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