The Lincoln Board of Education defended its $293.3 million general fund budget Tuesday —even without any public comment on it — before unanimously approving it.

“This budget does a lot of wonderful things for Lincoln Public Schools,” said Kathy Danek, chairwoman of the board’s finance committee, which spearheaded the budget work.

The 5.7 percent increase over this year’s budget will allow the district to hire 20 additional teachers and 29 para-educators. It will buy about 980 laptop computers for students and begin to replace teacher computers. It will put all-day kindergarten in the remaining 11 schools without it and pay for startup and operating costs on three new schools.

Board member Richard Meginnis acknowledged that although there was no public comment, the board is aware that  people are concerned about the  budget. 

“We do know there’s a large group who do have concerns about our taxing of their property, and we understand it.”

Several board members addressed some of criticisms they’ve heard, including questions about  the new laptops to be used for statewide online testing and other student instructional needs.

Meginnis said the planned purchase is long overdue.

“This is a step we’re taking today that’s filling a void we’ve had for a long time,” he said.

Board member Don Mayhew noted that LPS has about 5,600 computers for nearly 34,000 students. 

Meginnis said he sees the $1 million for new laptops as a first step and suggested a steering committee be created to help lead the district in future purchases. 

Several members also noted that the budget would not increase the total tax levy of $1.27 cents per $100 of valuation.

With this budget, the owner of a $150,000 home will pay $1,905 to support LPS. Last year, about 63 percent of Lincolnites’ total property tax bills was for LPS funding.

Board member Keith Prettyman said that had the state legislature not created a new state aid formula that penalized districts for not using most of their property taxing authority, he would have argued for lowering the tax rate. But, he said, even with this budget the board is not funding for all the student growth the district has seen in the past few years.

“A great deal of attention is being paid to what we’re levying, and precious little is being paid to what we’re not levying,” he said.

And Danek said a 2-cent tax levy being shifted from the building fund to the general fund was a commitment the board made when voters passed a $250 million bond issue.

The Lincoln Independent Business Association had urged the board to lower the levy by 2 cents.

The 2-cent levy had been in a building fund generating money for high school renovation. The board shifted it to the general fund to use for startup and operating costs of the new schools being built with the bond money.

“That two cents is a promise made and a promise kept by the board,” Danek said.

Among the biggest increases in the budget:

- $11 million in salaries and benefits. 

- $1.69 million for all-day kindergarten and $3.78 million for startup and operating costs of three new schools that will open in the next two years. 

- $1 million for new laptop computers and $703,990 to replace teacher computers.

- $1.6 million to hire elementary and special education teachers and para-educators. 

- $1.4 million to enter into a seven-year lease purchase agreement for a fiber-optic network.

Reach Margaret Reist at 473-7226 or mreist@journalstar.com.