School district budget approved

The Hot Springs County School District’s Board of Trustees approved the annual budget at their meeting on July 16.

Fortunately, the budget hasn’t changed much overall other than wage increases, travel expenses and SPED (special education) spending for the coming year.

There is a $57,000 reduction in SPED spending this year, mostly due to a drop in the number of students being placed in SPED. Compare that to the 2017-18 budget when just over $311,000 was poured into the program and you can see how the legislature has changed the funding of the program.

Business manager Chauncy Johnson told the board at the meeting that the way the legislature has things right now isn’t a problem, but it could very easily become an issue later.

The assessed valuation for the district came in slightly higher this year at $152.593,199, compared to the 2018-19 assessment of $143,779,630.

Some salaries have gone up with the district putting $6,345,698 toward salaries for the coming year, just $28,000 more than budgeted last year.

Other changes, such as how meals are prepared for students, has allowed the line in the budget for purchased services drop considerably, from $1.15 million to $851,790 for the year.

Overall, the operating expenses for the district have dropped $81,896.

The board was able to put $930,000 into reserve for contingencies for this budget cycle as well.

Another item that went up, mostly due to a change in funding from the legislature is travel expenses. That includes daily bussing expenses, travel for teams and field trips. Those costs went up just shy of $50,000 for the year.