Enrollment increases at Bigfork schools Board approves request to make budget amendments
A substantial increase in enrollment at Bigfork Schools has the district seeking permission from the state to adjust their budget. During their regular meeting on Nov. 14, the Bigfork School District board of trustees approved to petition the state superintendent of schools for permission to amend the district’s budget due to enrollment increases.
So far, the district has added 32 students since the budget was originally made, two in the elementary, 12 in seventh- and eighth-grade, and 18 at the high school.
“It has been so long since we had a substantial enrollment increase that I had to look up what to do,” district clerk Eda Taylor said. “Our enrollment increased, but not enough for the state to give us more money.”
Because of this, the district needs to transfer funds from their reserves to pay for supplies, technology, and maintenance so that more of their budget can be moved to the Interlocal Agreement Fund. The Interlocal Agreement Fund is a shared account between the elementary and high school that both schools contribute to and use.
If the entire process is approved and passes, it will allow the district to continue updates to the high school and elementary school heating systems.
The elementary school’s current budget is $3,140,057.45 and the high school’s is $2,119,929.84. As of July 1, reserves funding for the elementary school sits at $271,148.57 and $211,992.98 for the high school.
The maximum budget increase allowed by the Montana Office of Public Instruction is $103,311.95 for the elementary school and $26,122.36 for the high school.
The trustees are requesting a budget increase of $30,000 for the elementary school and $26,000 for the high school. If their request is approved by the state the new 2012-13 budgets would be $3,170,057.45 for the elementary school and $2,145,929.84 for the high school.
If the state superintendent approves their request, their budget amendment resolution has to be printed in the newspaper one week before the meeting when the resolution would be adopted.
Taylor said she would like to have all of this done before the board’s meeting on Dec. 19.
In other Bigfork School District news:
• Kalispell Toyota donated $3,000 to the district after selling 175 cars during a contest in October. The original deal was the dealership would donate $3,000 to every high school in the valley if they sold 200 cars in October, but they decided that 175 sales was close enough and they made the donation anyway.
“We’re fortunate to have them in the community, they are such good supporters of public education,” superintendent Cynthia Clary said.
• Bigfork Middle School’s website has a new introductory video, made entirely by BMS students with help from yearbook and computers teacher Mike Roberts. Their new video begins with a scene from the “Halo” video game series that cuts to a BMS student taking off Master Chief’s helmet (the game’s main character) and then has a series of photos depicting student-life at BMS.
“He (Roberts) had to modify it because the first version was just fun, but there is work here too,” principal Matt Jensen said. “You can tell it is by middle school kids.