News

PINE BLUFF SCHOOL BOARD GIVES NOD TO $41 MILLION BUDGET

By Erin France/OF THE COMMERCIAL STAFF
Thursday, September 24, 2009 11:37 PM CDT

The Pine Bluff School Board approved a $41 million budget for the 2009-10 school year Thursday night.

“We plan to stay out of debt spending,” Doug Brown, Pine Bluff School District’s director of business and finance, said at a special meeting at the Frank Anthony Administrative Center.

Pine Bluff Superintendent Frank Anthony said the stimulus funding would help the budget — especially considering the cumulative loss of students.

“We’re saying that June 30, we’re going to be even-Steven,” Anthony said.

Repairs and improvements to the district buildings could help the bottom line, Brown and Anthony said.

When asked, Brown said he had added some room for movement in the budget including the teacher’s salaries, estimating that expenditure could increase by almost $1 million, from about $19.6 million to $20.5 million.

“I anticipate this as a worst case scenario,” Brown said.

In the budget, Brown said he was concerned about revenue connected to the district’s taxes.

“The local tax revenue is really the item that we won’t know until the end of the calendar year,” he said.

That tax makes up about 50 percent of the operating revenue, he added. The other portion comes from the state which pays school districts between $5,000-$6,000 for each student.

Total actual revenue for the 2008-09 school year is recorded as more than $49 million, a little more than $1 million past expenditures.

Print this story   |   Email this story