Dave Bohrer / The Meridian StarMeridian High School.

With a budget marked by shrinking federal and state dollars, the Meridian Public School District is reducing teaching positions — but district officials say that student needs remain paramount.

The Meridian Public School District’s Board of Education unanimously approved the district’s 2017-2018 budget during a meeting Monday afternoon at the district’s central offices.

The projected expenditures for the 2017-18 school year add up to $60,416,978.06, compared with projected expenditures of $65,036,399 for the previous year.

“Seven teacher units have not been filled” for the coming year “due to federal funding cuts,” district spokeswoman Elizabeth McDonald wrote in an email. District officials “will continue to re-evaluate enrollment throughout the year, and we will make shifts as necessary,” she said.

McDonald noted a projected decrease of 31.8 percent in federal funding for the upcoming year.

The district has also re-aligned positions. During a budget hearing on June 19, Kelli Speed, director of federal programs for the school district, and John Taylor, assistant superintendent of curriculum and instruction, said the district will add eight academic coaches, replacing four district-level instructional specialists. Taylor said the academic coaches will receive salaries on a certified teacher scale, which are less than the administrative salaries the instructional specialists had received.

“By forgoing those (salaries), we were able to afford certified staff to do the same job, expanded,” Taylor said last week.

Much of the district’s budget decrease also comes from a reduction in Mississippi Adequate Education Program funding, which McDonald said is expected to decrease $1,104,766 in fiscal year 2018, compared to the previous year.

The district’s budget for the coming school year is based on an average daily attendance of 4,933, which is down 136 from 5,069 from the previous school year, McDonald said. The state’s allocation rate also varies from year to year.

The district’s enrollment stands at a little more than 5,500, according to the most recent statistics on the Mississippi Department of Education’s Website.

Part of the district’s budget reduction, Chief Fiscal Officer Carolyn Davis said, also flows from less money allocated for capital improvements, compared to the last two years. Davis said the district is approaching the third year of a three-mill note for $5.5 million, designed to address capital projects. The amount of money present in that fund has been included in projected expenditures for each of the past three years. Now, Davis said, much of that money has been spent.

Davis did note some remaining capital projects, though, including roofing for Oakland Heights school and possibly other buildings, as well as paving throughout the district and additional parking at Meridian High School.

Superintendent Amy Carter offered a prepared statement about the budget process.

“Early in the 2016-17 school year, district and school level leadership reviewed the efficiency of programs and resources to determine the impact on student learning and began streamlining those programs,” Carter said. “Since student achievement is our number one priority, we strive to ensure any reductions made don’t directly impact the students.”