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Vallecitos School District approves $3.375M budget

Joe Naiman

Village News Reporter

The Vallecitos School District approved a $3,375,169.96 budget for fiscal year 2022-23.

A 5-0 Vallecitos School board vote June 28 approved the budget. The amount is down 13.8% from the $3,916,439.80 budget the school district had for fiscal year 2021-22.

“We are hopeful. We are optimistic about our new budget, but yet we are cautious. We recognize that we have declining enrollment, we are excited that the budget has new programs that will benefit our students,” said Vallecitos School District Superintendent Maritza Koeppen, who is also the principal of Vallecitos Elementary School.

At one time the state cutoff date for enrollment in a public school was Dec. 1. That cutoff date was subsequently changed to Aug. 31 to ensure that all students in kindergarten were at least five years old when they began kindergarten. A transitional kindergarten program for students born between Sept. 1 and Dec. 1 was implemented, which allowed those four year olds to be in school the year prior to kindergarten. For the 2022-23 school year, the Vallecitos School District is expanding the Vallecitos Elementary School transitional kindergarten program to allow all four year olds in the district to participate at that level.

State funding for schools is based on average daily attendance. The school district predicts an enrollment of 181 students for 2022-23 and an average daily attendance of 169.

The transitional kindergarten level gives the K-8 Vallecitos School District 10 grades, so at a grade per classroom the average class size would be 18. “We have very nice learning experiences for students,” Koeppen said. “It’s a great place to be, and we have a great community.”

The school district anticipates 2022-23 revenue of $3,171,788.00, so school district reserves will be reduced from $980,277.33 at the beginning of the fiscal year to $656,895.35 at the end of 2022-23. The reserves provide $203,639.11 of unassigned funds, $268,256.24 of restricted money, $175,000 earmarked for economic uncertainties, and $10,000 of revolving cash.

The 2021-22 Vallecitos School District revenue was $3,875,297, so the 2022-23 amount is down 18.2% from last year. A combination of declining enrollment and one-time state funding is responsible for the decrease.

The $3,375,169.96 budget for 2022-23 will provide $1,288,560.96 for certificated staff salaries, $502,598 for classified staff salaries, $739,148 for employee benefits, $706,489 for services and other operating expenses, and $138,374 for books and supplies.

 

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