The Lincoln County School District saw a slight change inleadership roles Monday night.

Newly-elected Johnny L. Hart was sworn in to the District Twoposition on the school board, while long-time incumbent Jerry Coonwas sworn in to another six years as District Onerepresentative.

During the short ceremony, Superintendent of Education PerryMiller talked with school board members about the importance oftheir positions and the responsibilities that accompany them.

“Let me encourage you to take those responsibilities seriously,”he said. “The youth of Lincoln County are in your hands.”

Members of Coon’s and Hart’s family were on hand to witness theceremony.

Other school board members also saw a change last night with theannual rotation of the board officers. Joann Holmes becamepresident, and Brenda Warren moved to the vice president position,while Coon rotated to the secretary position.

Once the formal processes were completed, board memberscontinued with their regularly scheduled meeting.

They addressed a large funding cut the district is facing as aresult of the state legislators not funding the Minimum FoundationProgram, which pays for teachers, transportation costs, healthinsurance and other school needs.

“We can squeeze the money from somewhere,” said Miller about thepredicament that is affecting districts across the state.

The district will have to find other ways to make up for the$163,000 cut. Business manager Janet Smith explained to the boardhow the cut could be offset in the areas of maintenance and repair,associational fees and insurance costs.

“We had overestimated on our building insurance, and after wegot our policies it was a $93,000 difference,” said Smith.

Other funds will be cut to make up the rest of the district’sloss. Miller said teachers’ salaries will definitely not be one ofthe areas cut. Board members approved the cuts.

A few coaching changes were also approved last night. Roe Burns,former Loyd Star football coach, has been named the head highschool and assistant junior high football coach at West LincolnAttendance Center.

Luke Addison, who has served as assistant football coach, wasnamed to the position of head junior high football coach at WestLincoln. Anita Wilson will be the head girl’s fast-pitch softballcoach at the school.

In other matters, school board members gave approval for thedistrict to join the South Central Mississippi Consortium forEducation Excellence and Development. This will allow teachers theopportunity to have access to a website with detailed informationabout material on the new academic tests required forgraduation.

“We feel like it will be a fantastic resource for teachers todevelop lesson plans to help prepare students for the tests,” saidMiller.

The next school board meeting will be at 5:30 p.m. Jan. 22, atthe district office on Monticello Street. The meeting will be opento the public.