Rochester School District Budget Includes Over $2M in Cuts
Rochester, MN (KROC-AM News) - The Rochester School Board is expected to approve the school district’s 2017-2018 budget this evening. The general fund budget totals $219 million, while overall spending totals nearly $295 million.
The general fund spending plan is based on a 1.5-percent increase in the state’s basic school funding formula and incorporates about $1.2 million in district-wide spending reductions and another $1.1 million in reductions at specific school sites affected by a drop in compensatory funding, which is determined by the number of students eligible for free or reduced cost lunches.
The basic assumptions used to assemble the budget were developed before the State Legislature and Governor Mark Dayton agreed on a new state budget that boosts the school district’s basic funding formula by 2 percent. Superintendent Michael Munoz says the school board, in previous discussions, decided to stay with the more conservative 1.5 percent increase in the next budget and apply the additional state funding to the district’s reserves to reduce the size of future projected budget shortfalls.
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