NK schools adopt $28 million budget

New Kent’s School Board unanimously approved a $28,011,645 budget at its March 18 work session after hearing only one speaker at a public hearing held earlier during the day.

Financial director Ralph Westbay’s new projected revenue is $24,432,150 for FY14 based on level funding from this year. Increased funds of $305,364 from state and other revenue outside the county, coupled with dismissal of items labeled as the least needed to be addressed, has reduced an overall deficit to $1,347,401.

Board members intend to discuss reducing the deficit with county supervisors at a joint work session on March 27 (See related story in this issue.)

School board members also are implementing a seven-year salary decompression that will factor $65,505 into the budget over the next seven years. All employees are projected this year to receive a two percent pay raise from Gov. Bob McDonnell’s budget.

Added into the budget are 16.5 teaching positions to accommodate increasing enrollment and service technology needs at the schools.

Superintendent of schools Rick Richardson updated the board with a new enrollment projection, saying that the latest numbers predict an increase of 110 students, making the overall projection for the upcoming year 3,010 students.