Krum Superintendent Mike Davis said he believes student growth will help offset a district budget in the red that was approved last week.

School board members unanimously approved a general expenditure budget of more than $15.7 million, with just hours to spare before the start date of the new fiscal year. The 2010-11 budget, which took effect Wednesday, includes a deficit of $286,000.

“It certainly looks like we’ll have more students than we projected, so we should be fine,” Davis said. “It doesn’t seem like we’ll finish with a deficit.”

Krum completed the 2009-10 year with 1,611 students, after starting the year with 1,554, Davis said. Reports last week showed the district had more than 1,700 students.

Davis said officials expect that new students will continue to enroll through this week. As the school district increases in size, so does funding allocated to Krum schools by the state.

Board members also approved the district tax rate, which increased by 4 cents to $1.48 per $100 valuation — $1.04 of the rate designated for the maintenance and operations fund and 44 cents allocated to the debt service fund. Davis said the rate increase offsets the district’s decline in debt service values.

Lake Dallas ISD

Lake Dallas school board members last week approved a balanced fiscal budget totaling more than $39.36 million that included a surplus of less than $50,000.

Wes Eversole, deputy superintendent of finance and operations, said the 2010-11 fiscal plan is tighter than the previous year’s budget. To balance the plan, he said, departmental budgets were reduced by about $50,000. Positions were eliminated through attrition, while new employees were hired to accommodate district growth, Eversole said.

Eversole said the school board will meet Sept. 20 to consider adoption of a proposed tax rate of $1.67 per $100 valuation — $1.17 for maintenance and operations and 50 cents for debt service obligations. The proposal would increase the rate by 2 cents.

Eversole said this year’s tax rate increase is a result of the 2007 bond election, in which voters approved a bond package to fund the construction of Lake Dallas Elementary School.

Ponder ISD

The Ponder school board recently approved the district’s 2010-11 fiscal budget and tax rate. Superintendent Bruce Yeager could not be reached for comment to discuss specifics of the budget and tax rate.

BRITNEY TABOR can be reached at 940-566-6876. Her e-mail address is btabor@dentonrc.com.