Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Los Lunas Schools pass $63 million budget

Kenn Rodriguez News-Bulletin Staff Writer; krodriguez@news-bulletin.com

The Los Lunas School Board formally approved its budget for the 2008-09 school year last week.

The board unanimously approved the final budget, which was set at $63,028,662 by the board at a well-attended May 13 meeting, and approved by the New Mexico Public Education Department earlier this month.

"We need to submit our budget to PED, and they analyze it to make sure it's a doable budget and fits state statute and doesn't break any state laws," said Superintendent Walt Gibson. "Generally speaking, in the three years I've been here, they have not done an on-site budget conference, they've not had the need to do that here because we've been so solid financially.

"We do a phone conference of on average of less than 10 minutes. Our budget is usually a very tight document. There weren't many questions. It's just a formality really."

The budget as developed by the district was balanced to make up for a $3.3 million shortage that Gibson at the time characterized as a "revenue problem" cause largely by a 125-student decline in enrollment and 110 students being moved out of special education.

Gibson said district administration was still working on ways to cut costs without affecting the district's teaching staff.

"The budget will be an ongoing issue over the next year because it's a tight budget, and we'll have to keep a close eye on it," Gibson said.

E-mail this story Printer-friendly version