School District Spending Up A Bit

Next year’s budgets in the three major Valley school districts show spending increases of 3 percent with steady enrollment.

The increase in spending is largely due to a 3 percent raise the state Legislature voted to give teachers and other school employees.

Districts also lost a small amount of revenue when local levies for the coming year were decreased by the Legislature.

School boards for Central, East and West Valley school districts are expected to vote later this month to approve their budgets.

Here’s a breakdown of how this year’s school money is to be spent: Central Valley’s proposed general fund budget is up 1.9 percent to $64.5 million.

Teachers and principals’ salaries will cost $32.8 million. Salaries for classified employees, ranging from classroom aides to cooks and bus drivers, will cost $9.6 million.

Central Valley expects to spend $5.2 million on its special education program and $150,000 on new textbooks.

The district also is funneling more money than usual into technology, said Jan Hutton, business manager. She could not provide a specific figure, though, as money for technology often is pulled from different areas of the budget.

About $2.7 million is earmarked for transportation in Central Valley; $604,000 of that is budgeted for new buses.

About $2.1 million is expected to go to food service.

In East Valley, the general fund budget is expected to be $28.6 million. That’s a 3.2 percent increase over last year.

In West Valley, the general fund budget is slated at $20.9 million, a 3.4 percent increase.

, DataTimes