At its meeting Tuesday night, the Fairbanks North Star Borough School Board approved $232,051,943 budget for the fiscal year starting July 1.
The original proposal contained drastic cuts because the district’s enrollment dropped during the last school year. The state’s portion of the district’s funding is based on a per-student calculation, so the state’s contribution was greatly reduced.
Superintendent Karen Gaborik sent a memo to the board showing adjusted revenue and expenditures. She noted the local contribution from the Fairbanks North Star Borough Assembly, was slightly higher than originally planned, and that student enrollment could grow.
District Chief Operations Officer Andy DeGraw says he has tracked enrollment all year and expects it to jump up as the school year starts in August. As enrollment increases, more adjustments to the budget will be made, with an updated document provided to the board for approval at the August 17 meeting.