The district anticipates spending $21,724,802 this school year, an increase of $720,554 or 3.4 percent, over last year’s budget. District superintendent Ron Spanjer, who is starting his seventh year in Blaine, told commissioners that the budget included funding items that had been waiting a long time to be done. He added that the ending total fund balance would be $1,310,762, which would mean the district had achieved a board mandate of holding back 6 percent in reserves. 

“We’ve been trying to get back to this level of reserves for a few years,” he said.

Spanjer was cautiously optimistic about the state of educational funding, telling commissioners he believed the funding crunch the district had experienced in the last few years should ease up for a year or two. “Passing that levy has been a big help,” he said.

In other district news, operations supervisor Jim Kenoyer presented the board with an overview of summer construction on the district campus. All of the summer capital projects are substantially complete, he said. “Everything is up and running, just have a few details to finish up.”