During Monday night’s meeting, the Carroll Community School District (CCSD) Board of Education began the negotiation process with staff by presenting opening offers, request of bids for the roof project and more. The meeting opened with two public hearings, the first to review the 2025-26 school calendar, which was approved and the opening of the replacement project for two sections of the Carroll High School roof over the media center and the auditorium. With no comments, the public hearings were closed. A pre-bid conference will be held on Feb. 20 at 10 a.m. at the high school, with all bids needing to be received no later than 2:00 p.m. on Tuesday, March 4. Opening offers from the Carroll Education Association (CEA) were presented, but with SSA up in the air; no dollar amount was requested, rather asking for the district to pay fair wages for experience and dedication to the district. CCSD’s initial offer to CEA was to increase the base wage to $50,000, as the law requires and offering a 2.5 percent increase to the CEA group salary. The Carroll Education Support Association (CESA) proposed their first salary request of a dollar-per-hour increase to each classification and to be paid even when school is canceled, delayed, or let out early if hours are not made up. CCSD offered a one percent increase to support staff salaries, FICA, and IPERS, resulting in a $17,566 increase to the CESA group salaries. No action was taken, and negotiations will be held before the final offer is presented and the fiscal year (FY) 2026 budget is finalized. Fairview Elementary administration and teachers provided an update on the reading and writing curriculum for preschool through second-grade students. They visually showed the progress of a specific student’s writing from kindergarten through second grade. Five donations were made to select programs: $1,500 to Tiger Vision and $150 worth of Ramen Noodles, non-perishable food and hygiene products, laundry baskets, and a shopping cart to the Tiger Cupboard. Board members approved setting the public hearing date on March 27, before the board meeting, for the proposed property tax rate for FY26. Board members reviewed four scenarios for options on tax rates ranging from $9.9759 to $10.24037 per $1000 taxable valuation. Board members favored a one percent increase to the income surtax to build the management fund, but nothing was approved. The meeting ended in a closed session for a superintendent evaluation, which happens regularly throughout the school year. Carroll Broadcasting will bring you more on these topics in upcoming newscasts.
