The Brighton Board of Education, meeting Monday night in regular session, adopted a projected budget of nearly $78 million for the new fiscal year starting July 1st, marking a a new record budget for the district.

Despite the increase in spending, the Brighton Area Schools is anticipating a new record fund balance of $7.1 million by the end of next year. According to Superintendent Greg Gray, it’s all good news for a district that until a few years back was in the throes of record debt.

The district budget for the 2019-20 fiscal year which starts next Monday totals $77,900,000. The 10% goal Gray was alluding to in his comments is a fund balance that amounts to 10% of the district’s total budget, a difficult figure to achieve. The board Monday also approved the final revised budget of the 2018-19 year ending June 30th - which shows spending at $76,900,000 – in itself, a 5.8% increase over the original budget.

Assistant Superintendent for Business and Finance Maria Gistinger said the fund balance for the 2018-19 fiscal year ending this Sunday will be a healthy $6.1 million, a figure that is projected to increase by one million dollars in the coming fiscal year. The budget for 2019-20 is based on an expected increase of $150 in the state’s per-pupil allowance to the district, known as the Base Foundation Grant, and on a flat enrollment of 6,000 students. (TT)