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The Bonner Springs-Edwardsville Board of Education got some good news Monday night when Superintendent Robert Van Maren shared a budget forecast that was a bit more optimistic than usual.

Van Maren reported, so far, cuts for this year were holding steady at $33 per student, which was the same dollar amount he reported at the last board of education meeting. He also said, through the combination of stimulus funds and the $1 million that USD 204 administrators have already shaved from the budget, some cuts the district was expecting to make before will no longer be necessary, such as those to teacher’s aids. The district is also giving itself some cushion next year by budgeting for only $4,333 per student instead of the $4,367 per student passed by the Senate and House last week.

This was the first time the budget hadn’t kept Van Maren awake the night before giving similar, but less hopeful, reports at a board meeting, he said.

“I feel more comfortable with this budget and the projections than I have since November,” he said.

Included in his report was the announcement that there would be no fee increases for books, lunches, activities or athletics. In fact, the only fees expected to go up are those for driver’s education, which will be raised to $250 for students living within the district and $400 for students living outside. Despite this last bit of disappointing news, Van Maren had even more good news to share: Enrollment at Bonner Springs High School had gone up by 51 students already. He added that there was room for 25 additional ninth-grade students in the 2009-2010 school year.

Van Maren did caution, however, that more cuts might still be in the district’s future, especially with the drop in Wyandotte County tax valuations.

“My feeling is (more cuts) will be made on the 17th (of April),” Van Maren said of the final deadline for property owners to appeal their valuations. As he explained later, “… tax revenues are not meeting what was projected.”

Though any action taken by the board is still contingent on what is finally passed in the Statehouse, Van Maren said action would be taken on this new budget forecast at the next board meeting.

“I think there’s a good spirit ready to move forward with this kind of budget … and I don’t think we can be hurt,” Van Maren said.

In other action, the board:

• Approved the adoption of the agenda.

• Approved the minutes from the March 9 meeting.

• Approved the treasurer and clerk’s report.

• Approved warrants in the amount of $419,017.31.

• Heard Van Maren make a recommendation in his budget forecast that the assistant principal position become full time instead of part time because of additional responsibilities, such as YouthFriends trainer, that the assistant principal will be required to take.

• Approved an interlocal agreement for the contract renewal of Tim Pierce, the school resource officer.

• Approved an amendment to health policy JGFGD.

• Approved construction bills in the amount of $89,916.72.

• Heard a bond issue update from Van Maren. One of his updates included the progress that has been made to the new concession stand. He said there were only two items left to construct, the roof on the kiosk and a storage area. Van Maren also shared a list of maintenance projects the district would be focusing on during the summer, such as replacing the carpet at Bonner Springs Elementary and Delaware Ridge Elementary and redoing the tile at Edwardsville Elementary.

• Heard the superintendent’s update. Among other updates, Van Maren reported that eight summer positions would be open for hire for students ages 16 to 18. The district won’t have to pay the students anything, as pay for the positions was being funded through the Kansas Workforce Development fund. Part-time positions in maintenance, the central office, in transportation, in the technology department and at BSHS will pay $7.25 an hour

• Accepted Edwardsville Elementary principal Amy Riebel’s resignation and made a recommendation to contract DRE assistant principal Aaron Miller as the new principal at Edwardsville Elementary.

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