Minneapolis schools will enter next school year with a $742.7 million budget that anticipates growth in students and staff, and even the reopening of a school.
The school board unanimously approved the 2012-13 budget Tuesday evening after getting a final briefing from its staff.
The budget is balanced only because the district is planning to dip into its budget surplus for $18 million. Money going directly to schools will rise by about 2 percent.
"It took an awful lot of work and patience," Chairman Alberto Monserrate said of the new spending plan.
One reason the budget is increasing is that the district has retained more of the students who started last school year. The district also expects enrollment to grow by 414 students, bringing increased state aid.
The district is reopening the Folwell Middle School building for kindergartners through eighth-graders in a fine arts program that is shifting from the Ramsey building.
That building will return to being a middle school to accommodate increased southwest Minneapolis enrollment.
Spending also is increasing for some of Superintendent Bernadeia Johnson's priorities, including evaluating teachers, teaching them how to use student data to drive what they teach, and the technology to make those efforts easier.
