The Clinton Board of Education approved its fiscal year 2025 budget Tuesday night.

Wednesday morning on the WHOW Morning Show following up on the Tuesday meeting, Superintendent Drew Goebel stressed to Regional Radio the way school budgeting works. 

According to Goebel, the tax dollars the school gets have to be budgeted by percentages into funds that can only be used for certain purposes. He stresses once dollars go into those funds, they cannot be moved around for other uses.

Goebel explains each fund within the school budget has a set rate that is taken from the overall tax rate each year and those rates cannot be adjusted without community approval through a referendum.

The education fund - which is where teacher salaries and benefits come from and is the largest fund of the budget - annually comes in under budget. Goebel points out they pull from what is essentially a savings account each year to fill that void.

The district levies bonds every three to four years to replenish its savings account and then will use those funds to replenish the education to supplement the annual deficit. Goebel explains this practice dates back almost 20 years in the district.

Audits for the district year after year show the district is in a very good fiscal position.

The district has come under fire this summer on social media for turfing the football field with some questioning if the district should be directing those dollars to better uses. Goebel feels the district has done a good job addressing areas of need not only around the campus and its facilities but also in the classroom.