Budget-making is usually a fluid process in the best of times, but uncertainty over state funding has made things even more unclear, at least for the time being.

Dr. Michael Stevens, interim superintendent for the district, said there is a rather large question on just how much state aid BSISD will receive during the next budget cycle.

“We're still not certain what the state's going to do in that area,” Stevens said. “And we're going to wait and see what happens there before we go any further.”

The problem, Stevens said, has to do with questionable state use of federal funds.

“As it stands, the state is using federal stimulus money to provide aid to local districts,” he said. “There's a question on whether they can do that ... so a lot of school districts, not just Big Spring, are in limbo right now while they sort things out.”

The use of federal stimulus money as direct aid to local schools directly impacts a proposed teacher pay raise, officials said.

“Right now, one of the biggest holdups is that the teacher pay raise passed by the legislature is predicated on using stimulus money and there's a big question on whether the U.S. Department of Education will allow that,” said Sandra Waggoner, chief financial officer for BSISD.

As things stand, a pay raise for teachers, librarians and counselors seems fairly certain. How big that raise will be, however, is very much up in the air, Waggoner said.

“There's just no way we can say for sure right now,” she said. “But teachers should at least receive their normal step raises.”

Waggoner said questions about state aid have made work on this year's budget more difficult than in the past.

“Last year, we knew how much funding we would get,” Waggoner said. “But this year, the way the situation has changed, it's so much more difficult that we're still trying to figure things out.”

This does not mean that BSISD will be late crafting a budget this year, but local officials would appreciate some direction from their state counterparts.

“It's something that changes every few days,” Waggoner said of state guidelines. “But we have enough leeway (in the budget) that if things change drastically, we can still make things work.”

Waggoner promises a balanced budget with few big-ticket bells and whistles. The district plans to purchase two buses and four smaller trucks, but that's basically the expense of special purchases, she said.

Contact Staff Writer Steve Reagan at 263-7331 ext. 234 or by e-mail at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it