Quick Hits: West Bloomfield School Board Adopts Budget

The  Board of Education approved a budget for the 2012-13 school year Monday with a general fund surplus despite a cut in funds coming in from state taxes.

The 2012-13 budget provides an estimate for money coming into the district at $64.6 million, $2.4 million less than the 2011-12 amended budget. However, a 5 percent decrease in expenditures over the same time allows for the surplus of $1.2 million.

The funds saved by are expected to fall somewhere above $5 million for the three-year duration of the contracts.

The general fund balance is expected to grow from just above $419,000 to just under $1.6 million.

The $8,646 per pupil foundation allowance, cut by $470 per pupil last year in an act by the state legislature, continues to hurt revenue, while grants for "best practices" designed to help recoup losses are reduced this year from $100 to $52 per pupil.

The district predicts to lose 197 students in the upcoming school year, to 6,390 blended, continuing a three-year 

Taxable values are expected to continue dropping as they have since 2007, according to the budget, although the total levy continues to grow as well. In May, a 10-year, 1.5-mill building and site sinking fund millage proposal was voted to be placed on the Nov. 2012 election ballot.

The vote to adopt the budget was unanimous, coming with little public discussion from the board and no public comment.

General Fund Budget

Most transportation and custodial service employees to return

In other meeting news:

• The district . It is currently making good progress with the district's goal of hiring many of the district's former employees, according to representatives. Justin Grygiel of Durham School Services told the board that all but two of the district's former bus drivers which expressed interest in new positions at Durham got jobs and that many of them will maintain the routes that they were on last year.

Burning on a subject in West Bloomfield Schools?