By RICHARD JENKINS
Ironwood - The Ironwood Area Schools continues to improve its financial situation, with the board of education passing a budget amendment Monday.
The amendment is part of the district's efforts to grow its fund balance - efforts which appear to be succeeding.
"The work we've been doing to reduce our spending so far this year, combined with an increased per-pupil amount and stable enrollment ... has resulted in an estimated fund balance at the end of the 2018-19 school year of $203,000," Superintendent Travis Powell said.
Assuming the projected $203,239 fund balance holds through June, the district will finish the school year with a fund balance that is more than double the one at the end of the 2017-18 year.
The board learned in October that, while the district had projected to end the last year with a fund balance of $134,000, its actual fund balance was $96,110.
As with his report in October, Powell cautioned the board Monday that some of the fund balance is money restricted for a specific purpose. He said in October roughly $70,000 was restricted funds.
The district still has a ways to go before it reaches its target of maintaining a 5 percent fund balance - which would be roughly $350,000 for the district.
Monday's budget amendment included changes to a number of line items in the both the district's expenses and revenues, but Powell said the cumulative impact was growing the fund balance.
The amendments reflect an overall $241,169 increase in revenue from the original general fund budget passed in June, according to documents provided to the board, and an additional $172,829 in expenses.
The amendments leave the district expecting to having a total of $8,289,463 to appropriate and spending $8,086,224 this year.
In other action:
-The board approved the district's personnel report, hiring Adam Mackey as a special education teacher as well as several tutoring positions.
-The board also awarded the district's diesel fuel contract to Holiday Stations Store. Holiday offered a slightly better discount on fuel than the other bid submitted, according to information presented to the board.