HOWARD — After a lengthy, comprehensive discussion which included input from school administrators, staff and community members, the East Knox Schools Board of Education passed a resolution declaring it is necessary to ask the voters for an additional $1.2 million in operating money.
Presenting the financial outlook and explaining what the board called an urgent need for the levy, Treasurer Jessi Busenburg said expenses have been reduced, but revenues have also declined. The district, which relies on the state for 36 percent of its funding, is expecting a reduction in state funding between 10 and 20 percent. The district is also losing more than $200,000 in federal stimulus dollars and more than $475,000 in fiscal stabilization funds.
“We are projecting a $588,000 deficit this year,” said Superintendent Matt Caputo, “and we have $1.4 million in the bank.”
Busenburg said that with the levy failures in 2010, the district has already lost a year’s worth of potential revenue that was really needed, and has made cuts equal to at least $650,000 in the last year alone. The board reviewed the cuts already made, and discovered the district is near the state minimum requirements in the core academic classes offered.
