To:           Keene School District Faculty & Staff

From:       Bill Gurney

RE:          KSD Budget for 2012 – 2013

               January 24, 2012 

This is a brief memo to update you regarding the status of our budget proposal for the next school year. On October 4, 2011, the Finance Committee of the Keene Board of Education set a target for administrators to meet of an overall operating budget increase of .8%.

Many factors are affecting the budget for next year. Major increases in NH Retirement costs, collective bargaining agreements, transportation costs and special education salaries had to be absorbed into the budget.

Administrators worked diligently to meet this target while attempting to minimize reductions to essential programs and staffing. We reached a budget of $62,113,035 which was $252,240 lower than our current budget.

On January 14, 2012, the KBE Finance Committee recommended that the budget be further reduced by $550,000, citing decreased revenue projections due to the sale of Keene Middle School and a record surplus during the 2010-2011 school year.

 Once again, administrators have met to discuss further reductions in the proposed budget.  We will meet again later this week to finalize our budget proposal which will be presented to the KBE Finance Committee in February.

We will keep you informed as the budget works its way through the approval process. For Keene residents, the First Session of the district meeting is scheduled for Saturday, February 11 at 9:00am in the Keene High School auditorium. Voters will have an opportunity to adjust the budget at that time.

Second Session will take place at the polls on Tuesday, March 13. Please take these opportunities to be a part of the process.