Owego Apalachin Receives Additional State Funds

The Owego Apalachin School District is receiving more money from the state than originally expected. At Thursday night’s board meeting, board members learned that the amount of state aid for the 2013-2014 budget has been increased by $870,000. Superintendent Dr. Bill Russell spoke of possible ways to use the newfound funding. One possibility would be to use the money in the budget and use less from the reserve fund. The school district is currently proposing to use just over $1.1 million from their reserve fund. Another option would be to use the money to restore some positions that have been cut over the past few years, and the last option would be to reduce the tax levy, which was proposed to increase 1.59% in the next budget. The board voted to reduce the tax levy to 1%, which used just over $94,000 from the state aid. They also agreed to put $385,000 back in the school’s reserve fund, leaving around $390,000 the school intends to spend on various positions or items, such as scoreboard equipment or field trips.