By Patrick Tepoorten

The North Branch Area School District received some good news last week when Governor Tim Pawlenty signed an E-12 education funding bill covering the upcoming biennium. Although the general education formula did not exceed, or even meet, district projections, special education (SPED) funding was increased and should have an impact on the 2007-2008 budget.

The bill, which increases general education spending by 2 percent next year and another percent the following year, also made what appear to be significant increases to SPED funding.

North Branch finance director Randi Johnson projected the two percent increase in general education funding, so that increase does not impact next year's budget.

And, the one percent increase in 2008-2009 is a percent less than Johnson projected.

But the SPED increases will bring a modicum of relief to a district lean from stagnant enrollment and the lack of a local operating levy, factors which have resulted in the district's distinction as the lowest in per pupil revenue.

Over the course of the budget season, Johnson talked often about SPED funding and based budget assumptions on a loss of around $100,000 next year, based on changes to the tuition billing system alone.

As well, the funding formula for SPED is based on many factors outside of the district's control including not only the state allocation, but what other districts use.

In short, there are no way to guarantee exactly how much of SPED expenditures will ultimately be covered by the state.

The recently signed bill increased state SPED funding by roughly $326 million, which Johnson referred to as "better than projected."

Although she was hesitant to guess at how much of an impact the funds will have until the bill can be thoroughly studied, having made $2.5 million in budget adjustments for next year, any relief is welcome. She did say that the increase will "not be trivial."

At the very least, the district will have some room to negotiate contracts with custodians and teachers, both of which are up for contract renewal.

It will likely be the end of June before Johnson can put hard figures to the bill's intentions, but she noted that, aside from SPED increases, there may also be some one-time use funds the district could use to further reduce the impact of next year's lean budget.