Warden SD passes $23.8 million budget

WARDEN — The Warden School Board at a regular meeting on Thursday approved the district’s total $23.8 million budget for the 2022-23 school year.

The budget includes $19.8 million for regular operations, $3.2 million for capital projects, $409,000 to operate the district’s school buses, and $251,000 for athletics and other activities covered by the Associated Student Body Fund.

“We’re good,” said WSD Vice Chair Doug Skone, who chaired the meeting, following the 3-0 vote.

Two board members — Chair Rick Martin and at-large member Kasandra Campos — did not attend the meeting, leaving only three of the five members to vote on the budget.

Of the $19.3 million in the district’s general operating fund, around $12 million in revenue is expected in state financing based on daily attendance, while $1.2 million will come from the local levy approved by voters. About $5 million will come from specific federal assistance, and another $1.1 million in targeted state and federal aid — such as transportation funding and school nutrition programs — according to WSD Director of Finance Kassandria Rouleau.

Rouleau told board members WSD’s largest single expenditure in 2022-23 will be salaries for teachers, assistants and aides, which is expected to reach around $12.5 million, or 63% of the total budget. District administration will cost the district about $1.7 million, and district-wide maintenance not counting capital projects is anticipated at $4.8 million. School administration is expected to cost $757,000.

The district is budgeting for an enrollment of 850 students in the 2022-23 school year, up slightly from the 845 in 2021-22, Rouleau said. However, she added that in the last five years, WSD has seen average student enrollment decline by more than 100 students, with the district seeing an average of 961 students come through its three schools in the 2017-18 school year.

WSD posted the biggest decline in student enrollment in 2020 during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, Rouleau said. That was a loss of more than 50 students from the 897 enrolled in 2019-20 and the 844 that enrolled in 2020-21.

“We’ve not quite recovered from COVID,” she said.

As for the capital budget, the Warden School District is busy replacing the entire heating and cooling system at Warden Elementary School and the air chilling unit that cools indoor air at Warden High School and the high school’s gym.

Board members also approved $280,000 to buy two new buses for the district’s school bus fleet.

Charles H. Featherstone can be reached at cfeatherstone@columbiabasinherald.com.