The Petersburg School District has a little more money than it planned for. That’s according to superintendent Robyn Taylor.
Each year district administrators have to create a budget long before they know how much state funding they will get. Taylor says last spring the school district based its budget on flat state funding. They made cuts to almost every department to deal with the lack of funds. But they ended up with more money when the state lawmakers made a last-minute, one-time education funding bump. Now the district is revising its budget, deciding what to do with the money. Petersburg’s school board will vote on the proposed changes to the budget at tonight’s meeting.
The revised budget includes plans to eliminate student activity travel fees. Students who have already paid travel fees this year would be reimbursed. And the district has already hired two full-time teachers to start fall of 2025 – a secondary math teacher and an elementary counselor. Currently the elementary school has a grant-funded part-time contract counselor through a partnership with the Petersburg Medical Center.
If there’s no increase in state funding this year, the district will likely have to use some of the reserves in its next budget to fill in the anticipated deficit. But if there is increased education money from the state, that money could be used in next years budget for things like replacing aging school equipment and capital projects.
The Petersburg School Board meets half an hour early tonight, starting at 5:30 p.m. to accommodate the high school concert this evening. The meeting is in the middle and high school library. KFSK will broadcast it live, and post it on our school board page at kfsk.org.
