Just as the new school year gets started, the Rock Island school board is nearly finished preparing a budget. Tuesday night, the board gave its tentative approval to a 63.8 million dollar budget, with final approval in a month.
Chief Financial Officer, Bob Beckwith, says the one major change from last year is state aid - the governor has promised state aid for the coming year will be fully funded instead of being pro-rated as it was last year at 92 per cent.
And that change will mean an additional 600,000 dollars for the district. He's projecting a deficit in the education fund of 900,000 dollars versus 1.4 million last year - so the additional money will be helpful.
Beckwith says at the 100 per cent level, state aid for the Rock Island schools this year should total 21.2 million dollars, versus 20.6 million last year.
The proposed budget will be on display for 30 days, then the school board will hold a public hearing, and give its final approval, at a meeting on September 27th.
