The day before Audubon Charter School officials plan to present a 2014-15 budget to the school’s board of directors, financial documents presented by CPA Ben Hicks show a $207,200 deficit for next school year.

According to the proposed budget, most of the deficit is due to an upgrade of the school’s communications equipment to prepare for a new testing system compatible with Common Core standards.

It will cost $140,000 for the upgrades necessary to administer the PARCC test. PARCC, or Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers testing, is compatible with the Common Core standards.

New textbooks, with related workbooks and supplies for five years, are budgeted at $175,713. Along with the communications system improvements, those are considered non-recurring expenses.

Overall revenues for next year are expected to increase about 2 percent, from $7.6 million this year to $7.74 million, according to the school’s revised budget.

Expenses, on the other hand, are projected to rise about 3 percent: from $7.56 million to $7.81 million.

The school would be short $67,200 even before the $140,000 for communications equipment upgrades.

Aside from a 21 percent increase in materials, which includes textbooks, the school expects to pay more for salaries, benefits and custodial costs.

Salaries will increase about 2.5 percent. During the last board meeting, Audubon officials said that the school would add a Montessori director and perhaps a French teacher, which the French government won’t fund anymore.

The budget hearing is scheduled for Saturday at 10 a.m., but the final budget won’t be approved until June, Hicks has said.

Della Hasselle

Della Hasselle, a freelance journalist and producer, reports environmental and criminal justice stories for The Lens. A graduate of Benjamin Franklin High School and the New Orleans Center for Creative...