PRAIRIE CITY — The Prairie City School District is getting a funding boost.

The budget for the 2022-2023 school year is set at $19,971,191. The proposed budget is a 55.76% increase from last year’s $11,137,393 figure and a more than 200% increase from the $5,914,105 budget from fiscal year 2020-2021.

Prairie City Schools Superintendent Casey Hallgarth said the increase in funds came in the form of federal and state money like ESSER (elementary and secondary school emergency relief) funds, capital improvement grants and an increase in enrollment.

“The big increase for the budget is our sponsorship of our online school, Oregon Connections Academy Prairie City,” Hallgarth said. “Of that funding we receive 2.2% for being the sponsor school.

“Other funding that helps out our district is our Student Success Account (SSA), Student Investment Account (SIA) and High School Success (HSS),” he added.

The school district received $15,324,278 in funds from state sources for the 2022-2023 school year.

A seismic grant in the amount of $2.5 million was awarded to Prairie City School District but is not in the budget due to the grant being awarded after the district’s budget hearing. The grant is for improvements to the high school wing and main building. The district also received a $430,000 capital improvement grant for the Bates Building.

Hallgarth said he is excited about the direction the school is moving toward.

“We are putting some important pieces in for staff, and our retention rate is 100%. We are fortunate to keep all our great staff. My goal is to set up Prairie City School District financially so that we can compete with salaries and compensation for staff. We are right there now, and the retention of staff shows that,” he said.

The Prairie City School District budget was adopted and approved at the district’s budget meeting held on June 21.