Members of the Benton Harbor Area Schools Board of Education were on hand at this week’s meeting of the Benton Harbor City Commission to share news the district is no longer in a fund balance deficit. Superintendent Andrae Townsel told commissioners it’s taken years of hard work to get the district out of the red.
“This has been years in the making,” Townsel said. “Boards of education in the past, administrations in the past worked extremely hard through all storms, but this team right here was able to get us over the hump, over the cliff, and we’re out of a budget deficit,” Townsel said. “I think 2019 was when they were proposing to shut us down, we were negative $1 million, $1.2 million in the hole.”
The board of education learned last week for the first time in 14 years, it finished a fiscal year with a positive fund balance. It was $3.2 million. While the district still has some debts, Townsel said the news shared with city commissioners was welcome and required the work of the entire school community. He also announced pay increases for district teachers.
