District 241 adopted a preliminary budget for the 2003-2004 school year &045; a budget which is the result of both a long legislative session and last fall’s referendum.

The expected budget expenditures for the year will be near $34,905,300. This will include the additions from the levy approved in last year’s referendum, such as all-day, every-day kindergarten, and more staff for reduced class sizes and more electives.

&uot;This is a very preliminary budget,&uot; Mark Stotts, director of finance and operations, said. &uot;The biggest factor will be the result of the salary negotiations.&uot;

The school’s budget for this year was $35 million, Stotts said. He said the $34.9 million number for the next school year will certainly go up as negotiations are finalized.

The negotiations for salaries are expected to be finished on June 30. This, Stotts said, will make a big difference in how tight the budget will be for next year.

The district had expected bad news about state funding, but Stotts said that the final results were better than expected.

&uot;It could have been a lot worse,&uot; he said. &uot;We did as good as we could have hoped for.&uot;

There were no cuts by the state in almost all areas of the education budget, but with projections by the district for increases by 2.5 percent each year will put them in a difficult position in the future.

School board Chairman Ken Petersen pointed out that if there are no increases in the coming years, that the district will be losing millions of dollars in funding it might have expected to receive.

However, school budgets have, historically, changed with each new legislative budget.

One positive change for the district and district residents this last session was legislation that will increase the amount of state aid on local referenda. Stotts said that for the 2004-2005 year local taxpayers will pay less than expected in referendum-levied taxes.

Other board news:

-Changes in the high school handbook were passed dealing with technology and fashion.

&uot;Cell phones have become an issue at ALHS,&uot; Al Root, principal of the high school, said.

Many students have had phones go off during classes. Root also said that instead of passing paper notes during class, students can use the phones to send text messages to one another.

Root asked the board to adopt a policy that allows students to have cell phones in school, but not to use them during class.

Root also introduced a provision for a dress code that prohibits underwear from showing, shortness of skirts and shorts, backless shirts and spaghetti-strapped shirts.

&uot;This is an educational institution,&uot; Root said. He said students should dress appropriately for class, which is a different setting than going out with friends.

-Food service prices will rise 10 cents for the 2003-2004 school year for any meal bought in the cafeterias.

Mary Nelson, the district’s food service director, said the change is the first price increase in four years and is needed because of changes in food prices and maintenance and repairs on food-service equipment.

Nelson also provided price comparisons for the district, compared to Winona, Rochester, Owatonna, Fairbault, Austin, and Mankato, all of whom had equal or higher prices. Owatonna had cheaper breakfasts because of a federal grant.

-The repeal of the Profile of Learning and introduction of new academic standards will be slowly incorporated into the district’s curriculum, according to Judy Knudtson, the director of curriculum.

The changes will not affect any student who will be in high school during this next year, but will slowly be phased in as the next classes begin at the high school.