Cary District 26 OKs balanced budget -- it's first in six years

On Monday, Cary Elementary District 26 marked a milestone that would pass without remark in most school districts: for the first time in at least six years, it approved a balanced budget.

The 2010-11 budget includes revenues of $30,065,466 and expenditures of $30,065,369, leaving a projected surplus of just $97.

But to achieve that $97 surplus, the district during the past year had to slash $6.6 million from the budget, cutting art, music and physical education and laying off 71 full-time teachers.

District 26 school board members acknowledged the difficult path it has taken to reach a balanced budget after five consecutive years of deficit spending.

"It was obviously very painful," said board member Chris Jenner, who voted for the budget for the first time since joining the board. "I wish we had been coming to that gradually instead of having to do it all at once."

The district still has a long way to go before it is on solid ground. District 26 officials say they will have to cut an additional $6 million to keep expenditures in line with revenues and to avoid having to cede control over budgetary decisions to a state-appointed panel.