Staff across the Boyle County School District are receiving a 2-percent pay raise, while bus drivers will get $1 more an hour— raises thatwill make the district costs increase before the final budget is established this fall.

The bus driver increase is a way to encourage more drivers in the district, said David Morris, chief financial officer for the district.

The salary changes are reflected in the proposed budget of about $33.3 million, voted upon by the board Thursday night. The budget is essentially flat compared to last year’s proposed budget. Decreases in discretionary spending, such as buying Chromebooks one year and not the next, allowed the overall budget to stay about the same, Morris said.

“We expect salaries to be an expenditure line that is going up next year, in part because of the pay raise you gave,” said  Superintendent Mike LaFavers said to board members Thursday night.

The budget is built around 2,393 students, LaFavers told the board.

“That’s probably a conservative number, but I would say it’s very very close,” he said.

The district is anticipating $3,981 in Support Education Excellence in Kentucky (SEEK) funds per student, the same as in the 2016-2017 year. SEEK funding is a formula the state uses to calculate how much funding should be provided to local school districts. It includes funding for transportation costs and special needs students. 

The budget includes about $417,000 more in certified salaries and an approximately $63,000 increase in classified salaries. Salaries currently represent about 72 percent of the budget, excluding an approximately $3.58 million contingency.

There will be at least one more version of the 2017-18 budget proposed in the fall, which will reflect the salary changes, as well as any grants or federal funds received by the district, Morris said on Friday.

“We don’t have hard revenue figures, yet,” he said.

More expenditures could be added to the budget in the fall, if rollover revenue and federal funds are higher than currently anticipated, he said.

The district’s final budget has to be submitted to the Kentucky Department of Education by Sept. 30.