JACKSONVILLE — With a majority of the budget aimed at funding instruction for children, the Jacksonville ISD adopted the 2012-2013 budget at $41.3 million.

Of the total budget, 84 percent of the funds will be used to operate the district, 8.8 percent will go toward debt service and 7.1 percent will fund food service.

“The estimated revenue equals, or matches, the expenditures, which means it's a balanced budget we are adopting,” said Lindy Finley, assistant superintendent of finance and operations.

The biggest expenditure will fund instruction, which claims nearly 57.7 percent, or $19.9 million. Nearly $2.9 million of the budget funds food service and $22,000 funds maintenance.

Of the major expenditures, nearly $34 million, or 69 percent of the school's funding, is provided through state revenue.

“We rely heavily on the state,” Finley said. “When we start hearing things about the next Legislative session, if start they talking about cutting all districts the same percentage, you can see 5 percent of state revenue for us is quite different than districts getting a little bit of sliver money from the state.”

Finley said if state funding was equalized across the board, then getting the same cut as everybody else would not be a problem.

Local revenue, accumulated primary through facility rental, brings in $300,000. Federal funds, mostly reimbursement though special education student eligibility, net $215,000.

Finley said of the total budget, one of the biggest changes from the 2011-2012 budget was acquisition and construction funding.

“This current year budget, we amended purchases for furniture and equipment for our new campuses,” she said. “We obviously aren't going to do that two years in a row. That'll drop $1.2 million.”

Finley said this is the second year in the Legislative biennium and some programs were cut to meet state funding reductions.

Pre-kindergarten was changed to half a day, which decreased participation, the elementary computer rotation teacher was changed to an aide, the campus security was reduced to one officer, and this is the first year the school will not have an academic incentive plan.

“The 20 percent cut had been an adjustment but they all handled it very well,” Finley said.

Aside from program cutbacks, teachers and staff will receive an average 2 percent pay increase across the board.

“The biggest piece of our budget is payroll, which is instruction in our classrooms,” she said. “Which that is what we do.”

In other business, the tax rate was approved at a 1.08 percent increase from last year, equaling $1.32 per $100 valuation, increasing taxes for maintenance and operations. Of the tax rate, $1.04 will go toward maintenance and operations and 28 cents for debt service. 

“The certified property value compared to last year did go up $21.8 million dollars, but this does not generate total revenue in our budget like the good ol' days,” Finley said. “I think our local property collections went up $200,000, but when that happened, state revenue went down $200,000 because we have that equalizing effect.”