CRITENDEN COUNTY BOARD OF EDUCATION MEETING
Members review $2.2 million carryover
Crittenden County Board of Education met for its July working session on Tuesday, June 14. All members of the board were present. This meeting was also labeled as a special session. Like in June, the board uses a multi-hour working session to think, discuss and plan out the important matters of the school district before making them official policy at its regular monthly meeting.
“Think of it like a snapshot,” Cook explained. Winters concurred, citing a host of reports she could pull to create such a document.
“It is helpful to know how much money we have,” Winters stated.
Winters went over a balance sheet with the board, indicating the district finished fiscal year 2026 with $2.2 million carryover, some of which is already committed toward expenses.
“It is crucial that we have some carryover,” Winters added, as tax monies and state SEEK dollars come
later in the year.
Director of Special Education George Cavanah presented details about how the district is reimbursed from Medicaid.
“Federal law requires the district to provide services like speech, occupational and physical therapy, and nursing support to eligible students with disabilities, regardless of cost,” he said. "Medicaid billing lets the district recover a portion of the costs already being spent on those services.”
Cavanah reported the district has been reimbursed $163,000 in the last three years, and he expects that number to rise.
“We’ve slowly added more services and are learning how to bill for them,” he explained. Speech and occupational therapy services are the primary way the district is reimbursed by Medicaid. Cavanah also told the board that an increasing number of students qualify for services. Board member Ryan McDaniel
said that the results were “extremely positive” and the board agreed, and thanked Cavanah and his team for their “above and beyond work.”Cavanah also discussed preschool class sizes with the board. Currently, there are 39 students in the 40-person program, but there are six additional students on the waiting list.
Superintendent Tonya Driver offered possible suggestions to accommodate the growing class, including
adding an additional teacher and aide and changing one full-day class to two half-day classes. Board member Eric LaRue asked Cavanah what the research said about having half-day preschool classes. Cavanah wasn’t sure, but he said he could get it. Driver said half-day classes “weren't inferior” to full-day classes, but transportation cost would be a “big expense.” She said transportation for those half day classes was optional for the district.
“This year, preschool paid for itself,” Driver said. Self-sufficiency was always the goal, but the expenses of adding personnel or transportation costs challenged board members in their deliberations. The district has offered full-day preschool for at least eight years, according to Cavanah.
Driver commissioned Cavanah to poll families of preschool students about transportation needs and report back to the board before a decision is made.
Driver reported that the district is switching virtual learning platforms for the upcoming school year, using Edmentum in place of Edgenuity for Commonwealth Academy.
“It’s the same as Commonwealth Academy and half the price,” Driver explained. Some parts of the plan will be considered at the July 23 meeting.
Board members also reviewed the first reading of Kentucky School Board Association’s recommendations on policy changes due to new legislation. These include new traceable communication exemptions, new requirements for legal advertisements, teacher professional development and dyslexia instruction. The adoption of new policies will be on the July 23 agenda.
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