NATCHEZ — Concordia Parish School Board members unanimously passed Thursday a $43 million budget for the 2017-2018 school year.

The budget would leave the school district with a $2.2 million deficit. Director of business affairs for the school board Tom O’Neal told the school board he does not see this being an issue.

Budget numbers show the school district plans to bring in $40,847,948 in revenue and spend $43,101,154 in expenditures, leaving the district with a $2,204,336 deficit.

“That’s not illegal or immoral,” O’Neal said. “As long as you have a budget, you can spend your own money.”

O’Neal said money from the school district’s fund balance would offset the expected overture.

Currently the school district has a fund balance of $29,516, 407.

In other news:

4 Plans for a new addition to the Concordia Parish Academy of Math and Science were introduced Thursday night at the school board meeting.

Construction for the new project is slated to begin in early spring of 2018.

O’Neal said he estimated 40 percent of the $1.6 million project is already funded.

That number could change, he said, because the design for the building has not yet been finalized.

“We put money in the budget (for the building) because we had talked about the new wing,” O’Neal said.

4 The number of students enrolled in Concordia Parish schools has risen around by approximately 100 students, O’Neal said, though those numbers won’t be finalized until October when the official count is complete.

This rise should counteract an enrollment shrinkage recorded last year, he said, that set the district back by “roughly $460,000 to $468,000.”