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Warsaw's school board unanimously approved the corporation's 2000 budget Monday, sending it on to the state for final approval.
The budget of $42,169,185 includes more than $31 million for the General Fund, which is the bulk of the budget and comprises salaries and benefits; approximately $6 million for debt service; $2 million for the Transportation Fund, which includes salaries, equipment and replacement buses; approximately $2.8 million for the Capital Projects Fund, which comprises facility maintenance and improvement; and the Preschool budget of $150,000.
The 2000 budget is a 2.74 percent increase over the 1999 budget, said Rande Thorpe, business manager for Warsaw Community Schools.
Thorpe noted that no members of the public were present at Monday's meeting on the budget, and only one parent asked questions at the previous public hearing. "I think the public has been aware that in the last 10 years the board has made a major effort to not increase taxes," he said.
Before the meeting started, board president Craig Allebach asked for a moment of silence for the three teen-agers who died in Saturday's traffic accident: Christopher Prater, Daniel Gibson and Jose Sanchez; and for Joe Geib, who survived the accident but is in serious condition at Parkview Memorial Hospital in Fort Wayne.
Greg Schroeder, WCS director of buildings and grounds, gave the board an update on construction projects at various schools.
The high school project, which added four classrooms to the Career Center, is completed, Schroeder said.
The multi-purpose room addition to Madison Elementary is 90 percent completed, with the gymnasium floor still being finished, he said.
Air conditioning units at Claypool, Washington and Madison elementaries are mostly ready for today's first day of classes, he said, with some minor glitches at Claypool and Madison that should be cleared up "any day," Schroeder said.
Dr. Lee Harman, superintendent, said he has received some calls on the community-based planning process, discussed in the last school board meeting, from patrons interested in serving.
He said he is organizing the committee and selecting a facilitator, and will report more on the project at the board's next meeting, which will be at 7 p.m. Sept. 13 in the administration building.
