The Carmel Clay Schools board of trustees met Oct. 30 to approve the 2024 budget, add and delete course offerings at Carmel High School and more.

What happened: The school board voted 4-0, with board member Greg Brown abstaining, to approve the 2024 budgets, capital improvement plan and bus replacement plan.

What it means: The $232.3 million budget is 7.5 percent larger than the 2023 budget, and includes an anticipated tax decrease from 86.03 cents per $100 of assessed property value to 84.93 cents. Brown, one of two school board members in their first year in office, said he abstained from voting because he does not understand the complexities of school finances and budgeting well enough yet to be fully confident in his vote.

What’s next: The Department of Local Government Finance will review the budget and certify the tax rate by the end of the year.

What happened: The board voted 5-0 to approve course changes at Carmel High School.

What it means: School administrators consider student interest in various topics and other factors when looking to add or delete course offerings. Courses added include World Literature, Arabic, three levels of dance performance, and Interior Design Fundamentals. Deletions include Ethnic Literature, Information Technology Support and Sports Medicine I and II, which will be replaced by Principles of Exercise Science.

What’s next: The course changes go into effect for the 2024-25 school year.

What happened: Amy Dudley, CCS assistant superintendent of curriculum, instruction and assessment, presented an update on ILEARN results and how they compare to previous years.

What it means: Dudley said that CCS students scored 28 percent above the state average in English Language Arts and 30 percent above the state average in math. CCS students increased their ELA scores an average of 2 percent since 2021 and increased math scores 4 percent during that time. She also said CCS third graders scored 12.4 percent above the state average in the IREAD assessment.

What’s next: ILEARN testing for the 2023-24 school year will occur during the spring semester.