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By Ken Jackson Staff Writer

While the students of the Osceola County School District are off enjoying their summer vacations, district officials have been hard at work tackling the budget for next the 2013-14 school year.

Chief Business and Finance Officer Todd Seis brought a preliminary budget that, while carrying a $6.3 million deficit, would feature no school closings or reduction in employees. While the district has reserves in savings to shore up the deficit amount, its long-range plan is to be operating in the black by the 2015-16 school year.

We are controlling costs to make sure we adhere to that plan with the anticipation the state will continue to rebound from the economic downturn that will lead to additional funding for the district, Seis said.

At a budget workshop with Superintendent Melba Luciano and School Board members, he said the new budget is centered heavily on curriculum needs and professional development.

We came up with something that will really get this district moving next year, he said.

The final numbers will likely change after July 30 when the Osceola County Property Appraisers office will certify the final tax rolls, but the total funding from property taxes available to the district will be around $375 million. That is $6,542 per student. That figure is up from $6,183 last year, but Seis said it is down from $7,205 per student in the 2007-08 school year, before the economic downturn began.

We still need to control our spending and appropriate our funds wisely, Seis said. We were effective this past year and weve gotten through some hard times, but were still not to our levels from 2007-08.

He said the district needs to be operating in the black by 2015-16. Board Member Tim Weisheyer, a Realtor, gave a bit of optimistic news in that the countys total reported taxable value is $17.75 billion as of May 30 and does not reflect the improving real estate market and property values that will continue to rise through the start of the new school year in the fall.

The rest is here:
School District budget deficit will not lead to layoffs, school closings