District 309 school board members passed a tentative budget of nearly $16.7 million for the 2010-11 school year at its meeting Monday night and learned the most pressing issue regarding the budget is timely state funding.
Currently, the state owes the district about $800,000, which will go toward the general fund account.
“They haven’t had a real good track record over the course of the year,” said superintendent Chuck Nagel. “We were very conservative in what we expected in the upcoming year.”
Nagel added the school’s revenue is down 5 percent to $14.2 million while expenses are up 1.5 percent to $15.6 million compared to the last year. That means the district is experiencing a deficit of about $1.4 million.
“Keep in mind two things: we tried to estimate our expenses high and our revenues ... a little bit on the low side knowing the uncertainty of funding,” he said.
If the state is unable to make payments, the district will tap into the education fund balance, which stands at $5.4 million.
“We can go for a while,” Nagel said.
The board will approve a final budget on Sept. 20, and a public hearing will take place at 6:45 p.m. before the regular board meeting.
In other action and discussion, the board:
• heard a construction update from principal Paul Whittington.
“We’re ready to open school on time,” he said. “That was a concern when we were sitting here in May and the first part of June.”
• approved the resignation of Thomas Michaels, special education aide.
• approved the employment of Reid Henrichs, as a teaching assistant and part-time social studies teacher; Graylin McLeod and Josh Johnson, as assistant football coaches; and seven volunteer football coaches, John Haeffele, Steve Albritton, Brandon Laesch, Justin Yang, Tim Koons, Kevin Vedell and Josh Zaiser; and Alan Walker, as volunteer Raiderette coach.
