CV School District approves budget

The Central Valley School District Board of Directors Monday unanimously approved a budget of $121.2 million for next year.

The general fund, approved at $106.5 million, is 8 percent higher than last year, reflecting an increase in state revenues and Central Valley’s growing student population, district officials said.

Eighty-seven percent of the general fund is approved for salaries and benefits, with about 12.5 percent for operations which include building budgets, food supplies, utilities, curriculum, insurance and fuel.

About $1.8 million is budgeted for the Associated Student Body fund, $3 million for capital projects, $9.4 million for the debt service fund, and $487,000 for transportation.

The budgeted fund balance is about 4 percent of the district’s overall budget.

“It’s a tight budget; but because of other factors we were able to put it together and balance it without making levels of cuts that other districts are having to do,” said Jan Hutton, the district’s executive director for business services.

While the budget reflects continued rising costs for health-care benefits and salaries for all district employees, the district’s revenues continue to grow in part because of increasing enrollment.

The district’s student population is expected to grow by 2 percent next year, to 11,835 full-time equivalent students, district officials said. State funding is calculated based on a district’s number of full-time students.

Several years ago Central Valley approved cuts in program and staff that have carried forward, Hutton said. Officials have also implemented other cost-saving measures in recent years, such as the purchase of a district-owned garbage truck instead of contracting for those services.

“That continues to give us around $70,000 in savings,” Hutton said.