By EMILY BEHLMANN

ebehlmann@gctelegram.com

A full agenda for the USD 457 Board of Education on Monday will include discussion on the 2008-09 budget, plus presentations about 2008 test scores and the possibility of a centralized early education center, and the possibility of changing the name of Pierceville-Plymell Elementary School.

Financial Officer Kathleen Whitley said Friday afternoon that she still was working on budget information that will be presented on Monday, and that she didn't know yet what the district would be proposing as a tax rate.

Other segments of the budget, however, already have been determined through USD 457's program budgeting process, in which a committee of school district staff and residents help determine how funds will be divided among the district's programs.

Based on the committee's input, the board approved a priority list that would increase funding for high school instruction while trimming the budgets for curriculum/assessment, supplemental services and district-wide administration.

Also on the agenda, Assistant Superintendent Shelly Kiblinger and Testing Coordinator Steve Nordby are scheduled to discuss how students fared on the Kansas State Assessments students took in the spring.

Deputy Superintendent Steve Karlin said the information to be presented is not yet finalized by the state, but that the school district still has a good idea of which schools made Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) under the federal No Child Left Behind Act. Making AYP indicates that a high enough percentage of students -- overall and in various subgroups -- have achieved at least a "meets standard" score on the reading and math tests.

In other business, Special Education Director Karen Johnson will discuss why a research committee she was a part of feels a centralized early childhood education center would be a good move for USD 457. Currently, early childhood programs are spread among most of the district's elementary schools.

The center is part of a long-range facility plan approved by the board in the spring that would be funded by a bond issue on November's ballot. The plan would involve construction of a new high school, conversion of the current GCHS into a middle school, conversion of Abe Hubert Middle School into an elementary school, and conversion of Garfield Elementary School into an early childhood center.

Karlin said Monday's meeting also will include discussion of whether to drop "Pierceville" from the name of Pierceville-Plymell Elementary School. Some residents of the area proposed the idea, and it seems to have support of many staff and families involved with the school, including the family of the one student who lives in Pierceville, he said.

According to the school's Web site, the student bodies of the Pierceville and Plymell schools came together in the 1970s to attend the current school, which is located closer to the unincorporated community of Plymell.

Karlin said the district would only be seeking board and public feedback on the idea Monday, and that he didn't expect any decisions about the school name to be made yet.