The Centralia High School Board of Education approved an annual budget at Monday night’s school board meeting that shows a roughly $600,000 deficit across the four operating funds. Overall revenues in the budget are $17,078,243. Expenditures are $17,682,000. The estimated fund balance at the end of June next year is $5,182,000.
According to Superintendent Dr. Chuck Lane, the deficit this year is a result of lost funding now that One Hope United has closed its Centralia residential campus. Lane said without that loss, the budget would have been balanced, and he added that the school will look at options for cutting costs and ensuring future budgets are balanced.
The board approved updates to ticket prices for athletic events. Noting that the price of season tickets has been unchanged since 2018, the board raised the price from $50 to $60. Other changes include raising regular season individual tickets to $7 each, and general admission season pass to $35. For the Centralia Holiday Tournament, the All Session Reserved Chair price was raised from $50 to $60, and a new general admission 3-day pass was created to be offered at a cost of $35.
The school board received an update on the efficiency of its new solar panels. Since the new solar array in front of the high school became operational, the city has been purchasing the power generated at a rate of 4.75 cents per kilowatt-hour, well below market rates. Year-to-date since March, thanks to the new solar array and the solar panels near the annex, the school has saved over $65,000 on energy.
This year’s e-learning plan was approved, with no changes made from previous years. The school has five e-learning days per school year that can be used instead of snow days when feasible.
The next board meeting was rescheduled for Monday, October 26.
