The Highland School District was given good news regarding their finances at their September school board meeting. Heading into this school year, the district was potentially facing a deficit of nearly $200,000 in the spending authority. However, according to Business Manager Sue Rich, after the final numbers were calculated for the new school year, they ended up with a positive balance of $91,420. Rich said there were three factors that caused the dramatic shift in their predicted finances to what they ended up with.

First, they didn’t have all the information on revenues and expenditures when the initial estimate was made, which Rich told the board when she first gave the numbers. Second, the special education deficit ended up being much higher than Rich had first estimated. Lastly, their miscellaneous income was higher than expenditures after everything was calculated. The spending authority is part of the school’s general fund, which pays for things such as teacher salaries, supplies, and energy. Rich added all the other funds ended positive as well, and the school board was both excited and relieved with the report.