More students than anticipated means a larger budget for Mesa County School District 51.
The student enrollment numbers are in for District 51 and with hundreds more students than expected, school board members had to re–examine the 2006/2007 budget, redraft it and once again adopt it.
The board did approve the budget Tuesday, with a $2M increase.
The budget is approved at the end of June every year, however, once the numbers come back on October 1, the board has the option of taking another look and making adjustments if needed.
In June, the board was anticipating an increase of about 140 students, but according to the recent data, more than 550 new students are attending schools in Mesa County.
However, thanks to the recent completion of a $109M bond project, the increase is not causing over crowding.
The budget is now approximately $131M, an increase of $2M and as if the more than 500 additional students isn't already a sign of substantial growth, the budget for the 2005/2006 school year was more than $12M less.
