Algoma School Board discusses current bills circulating

By Paige Grzenia

Contributing Writer

ALGOMA – The Algoma School Board met on Nov. 27.

During the Board Correspondent Report, Pat Qualman shared that Assembly Bill 370 is trying to get passed that will have the University of Wisconsin and technical colleges guarantee admission to applicants in the top 5% of their class.

BillSB 597 was brought up as well, which would have school boards develop and implement a policy where the parents or guardians of any student under 16 years of age would be notified of any material their child checks out of the school library to make sure they are checking out age-appropriate material.

Budget summary

The monthly budget summary was then presented.

Being about five months into the fiscal year, the goal is to have 42% or less for expenditures, which all of the operating funds show, so they are on target for 2023-24.

Dual credit opportunities

Algoma High School has partnered with NWTC to offer dual credit courses, which means the high school students can get high school and college credit for certain courses they take.

In the 2022-23 school year, 836 credits were awarded to Algoma High School students, with each credit being $160 totaling $139,612 in tuition that the students didn’t need to pay for taking the dual credit courses.

Then 12 students took 66 Start College Now Credits which included Diesel, Welding, Health Care, American Sign Language, and general studies.

There were 102 credits awarded valued at $17,034.

There will be a special school board meeting held on Dec. 11 at 6 p.m. to review referendum survey results, and the next regular school board meeting will be held on Dec. 18 at 5 p.m.