The United South Central School Board kept their last meeting of the 2023 year – which included their Truth In Taxation Hearing – to exactly one hour in length.

The meeting was held on Tuesday, Dec. 19, and started at 6 p.m. with the Truth In Taxation Public Hearing.

However, no members of the public were in attendance for the hearing.

USC finance manager, Stacie Whiteside, gave a presentation on the reason for the hearing, the budget numbers, the proposed levy amounts and the reasons for the numbers.

Whiteside showed the proposed levy for 2023 and payable in 2024 was at $3,950,652. That is an increase of $159,148 over the previous year.

The increase works out to be a 4.2 percent hike in the tax levy.

Following Whiteside’s presentation, the USC School Board voted unanimously to set the levy at the 4.2 percent increase.

In business during the regular meeting, the board spent some time discussing a proposed change to the school calendar for 2024-2025.

Instead of having scheduled early outs and late starts during the school year, the proposed calendar has school being dismissed an hour early, at 2:06 p.m., every Wednesday except Sept. 4 and May 26.

“This puts us in a similar schedule to other districts in the area,” superintendent Taylor Topinka said. “It will be beneficial to students, teachers and parents.”

The staff would use the time for professional learning committees.

Some board members had questions about the change, but others endorsed it.

It was a first reading of the new calendar, so it will be discussed at future meetings before being adopted.

In other business at the meeting, the USC School Board:

• Passed a resolution which authorizes the sale of the three parcels of land that comprise the former USC football field. The sale is to Nasinec Properties, LLC, and the sale price is $5,000.

• Passed two other resolutions which are standard and presented to the board each year.

One deals with authorizing a stand alone election if needed, and the other is to have the administration make recommendations of reductions in programs and positions if necessary.

“We have you pass these resolutions each year,” Topinka said. “And we hope we never have to use them during the year. But they are there if needed.”

• Heard from the two USC principals about updates at the schools, which included having Pam Krill as the new Workforce Coordinator, the Jazz Band visiting the nursing home and various staff updates.

Current enrollment figures were also given. The high school enrollment stands at 340, down four students from last month, and the elementary is at 378, also down four from the previous month.

• Passed a Memorandum of Understanding with the USC Education Association which dealt with the new state Earned Sick and Safe Time law.

• Heard a report from recent Radon testing done throughout the school at 151 sites. The school passed with Radon measurements at .7 or below. They need to be under 4.0 to pass.

• Accepted a proposed schedule for USC School Board meetings, that are mainly on the third Tuesday of the month, at 5:30 p.m. during the school year and at 7 p.m. during the summer months.

The January meeting was left on Jan. 16, although it has sometimes moved up.