Oceanside school district proposes $174.3 million budget

The Oceanside school district is presenting a $174.3 million proposed budget for the 2023-24 school year, a 3.83 percent increase over the current spending plan.

There will be no cuts to any programs in the new budget, while the district aims to add new key personnel such as a literary specialist. The average cost per student is approximately $24,000.

During the first review of the proposed spending, district officials aimed to accomplish all their wish-list items with a budget of $180.6 million, which would have exceeded the state tax cap. After further discussions and review, they brought it down to $174.3 million.

The tax cap is 2.9 percent, with a maximum allowable tax levy of $128.3 million.

“The impact of inflation has increased costs in several areas of our expenditure budget,” said Jerel Cokley, the assistant superintendent for business and operations, “mainly utilities, basic classroom and office supplies, transportation, our special education department and health insurance coupled with updates to our staffing needs.”

The projects the district is proposing for the upcoming year include converting the technology lab into a woodshop and converting the woodshop into an auto shop.

There would also be a one-story addition that will allow for a new car lift for the auto shop. In addition, the courtyard of Oceanside High School would be converted into a one-story structure that would add five classrooms to support engineering, business and video forecasting rooms.

On the middle school level, there is a proposal to renovate the library to not only open up the space but allow for new spaces for a music video media suit, a collaboration area with flexible seating and furniture, and an instruction area for students, staff offices, and storage.

Also planned are a new circulation desk and quiet area for reading and studying. This project would be funded by the capital reserve, which means there would be no impact on taxpayers.

Future project ideas for consideration and further discussion include artificial turf on the baseball and softball infields at the high school and at School No. 3.

Last year, residents approved a $167.9 million budget for the current school year, which was an increase from the $163.4 million in spending approved for 2021-22.

The next budget workshop is April 19 at 7:30 p.m. in the School No. 6 auditorium.

May 3 is slated as the next budget hearing. The budget vote and Board of Education elections being held on May 16 from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. in the School No. 6 gymnasium.