Following a budget hearing last Thursday night, the Nashville District 49 School Board approved a budget that is comfortably in the black. Superintendent Mike Brink said that the budget for the coming school year was almost $200,000 to the good.

“Our budget is $199,038 in the black. Now the way we budget is that we do assume all revenues from the state, so for example the state still owes us about $55,000 from last fiscal year,” Brink said. “That amount plus all mandated categoricals are place into our budget.”
After approving the budget, the board discussed the funding for transportation for preschoolers, which comes from a grant. Brink talked about his desire to see that continue.

“The district has historically transported kids to preschool, and while that’s not a requirement, I know its certainly helpful for a lot of our parents,” said Brink. “So we would very much like to continue that trend, but we do have to take a look at rising transportation costs as well.”
Brink also talked about a grant that had been on hold that is not available again. Money from an energy efficiency grant had been put on hold throughout the state’s budget crisis, but those funds are now available. Brink says the school is looking into using that money to replace the lighting in both school gyms. The board also approved the application for recognition of schools document that shows that the school is adhering to state policies and guidelines. The next meeting will be October 27.