Region 9 Eyes Budget Increase Under 2%

While the Region 9 budget proposal of a 2.17 percent increase to $22.5 million was one of the lowest initial requests in recent years, the school board has asked the administration to shave that number down even more.

At a budget workshop last week, the Region 9 Board of Education asked the administration to trim $40,000 to $50,000 out of their $478,000 request, which would bring the budget increase under two percent, according to Mark Lewis, vice chairman of the school board.

"The board felt that such a small reduction in their request was fiscally prudent and very possible without harming the education of students at Barlow," Lewis wrote in an email to Patch. "This relatively low budget increase is despite another projected increase in enrollment from 1,013 to 1,055 and the largest Barlow entering freshmen class (283) in memory."

Lewis said the administration suggested removing an extra security officer from the budget, but the board was against that measure. 

The board tenatively agreed to $37,000 worth of cuts from the budget, but asked the administration to cut $3,000 more, according to Lewis. It remains to be seen precisely what will be cut. 

For more details on the budget, click here. For a budget summary, click here.

The board is scheduled to meet on Tuesday, March 19 at 7 p.m. at the high school to finalize its 2013-2014 budget.