WILLMAR -- The Willmar School Board will discuss a first revision to the fiscal 2007 budget when it meets Monday.
The budget projects a more favorable bottom line for the year.
The original budget of just less than $40 million was approved in June 2006 and some of it was based on estimates. It is usually revised mid-way through the year, when more detailed information is available about state aid and other revenue.
The original budget projected a deficit of $900,000 by the end of the fiscal year on June 30, but that is no longer the case. General fund expenditures are now expected to exceed revenue by about $100,000 on June 30. The additional funding will come from the budget reserve, which was listed at $5.4 million in the 2006 audit report.
Revenue has increased $1.69 million over original estimates for a variety of reasons, according to information provided by Business and Finance Director Bob Haines. Part of the change comes in a change in how special education tuition is handled by the state. It also comes from an increase in interest earnings.
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The district experienced an increase in enrollment in the last school year after a decade of decline. Aid payments based on the number of students will be higher because of that.
Expenditures will increase as well, by about $1 million. That includes increases in employee benefit costs and an increase in capital costs. The district will be spending $361,000 to make repairs to the aging track at Hodapp Field. About $387,000 will be spent to replace aging computers that no longer meet state standards for administering standardized tests online.
The board meets at 5 p.m. Monday in the first floor board room at the Willmar Education and Arts Center, 611 Fifth St. S.W.
Other items on the agenda include recognition of Superintendent Kathy Leedom's service this year as president of the Minnesota Association of School Administrators. Leedom is to receive a ring and the district will receive a check to fund a scholarship for a 2007 graduate of the school.
The board will hear reports on the progress Willmar Community Education and Recreation is making on the district's strategic improvement plan and on an education funding study conducted by a consortium of education organizations.
The board will present a summary of Leedom's annual performance evaluation, which was conducted during a closed meeting on Jan. 12. The state's Open Meeting Law allows meetings to be closed for employee performance evaluations.
