The
Rochester school board will hear a presentation from Superintendent Bolgen
Vargas’s financial team tomorrow night concerning amendments to
the district’s 2012 to 2013 budget.
The district
approved a $705 million budget last spring. But the district’s revenue
increased by about $21 million, mostly from grants. Some expenses increased,
too, including a $2 million increase in transportation costs. The increase was
partly a result of busing students to and from schools with expanded days.
Much of the
additional grant funding was used to pay increases in salaries and benefits for
staff in the expanded day programs.
As the
budgeting process for the 2013 to 2014 school year begins, Vargas is facing
about a $70 million gap. And school officials are bracing for possible
reductions in state aid, due to the damages caused by Hurricane Sandy.
This article appears in Dec 12-18, 2012.
