St. Charles School Board approves balanced $200 million budget

St. Charles School District 303′s operating funds budget for fiscal 2022-23 is expected to have a small surplus of about $10,000.

School board members Monday unanimously approved the budget, which shows revenues in the operating funds budget of $200,155,489 and $200,144,520 in expenses for a surplus of $10,969. The operating funds budget includes the education fund, operations and maintenance fund, transportation fund and working cash fund.

Talking to school board members at the board’s Aug. 1 business services committee meeting, Justin Attaway, the district’s assistant superintendent for business services, noted that in looking at all funds there still is a projected deficit of $3.8 million.

“However, that is significantly reduced from the first draft of the budget, which showed a $5.9 million deficit,” Attaway said. “In that $3.8 million deficit is $3 million of one-time construction projects in the district’s capital improvement plan. Those are one-time expenses that are not carried year over year.”

Funds are expected to increase on both the revenue and expense side. Total revenue for all funds is estimated to increase by 3.64% and total revenue for operating funds is estimated to increase by 5.28%.

Total expenses for all funds are estimated to increase by 4.05% and total expenses for operating funds are estimated to increase by 5.29%.