RATHDRUM - The Lakeland Joint School District budget is moving ahead, with a teacher contract still looming.

The school board on Monday night approved a general fund budget of $25.24 million, an increase of 4.8 percent from the current $24 million budget.

Tom Taggart, the district's finance director, said one of the largest expenditures will be $550,000 for textbooks, a $390,000 increase from this year.

"We had planned this big textbook adoption," Taggart said.

The special education budget for the upcoming year will be $1.7 million, up from $1.5 million this year.

"The federal money we've used for that area has not carried over, so we've had to move that budget into our general fund to continue to provide the service," Taggart said.

Taggart said the district and the Lakeland Education Association - the teachers' union - met four times regarding a contract for the upcoming year, but haven't reached a deal.

Another meeting isn't scheduled and a federal mediation service is being called upon to settle pay issues.

"If one side comes up with a good idea, a deal could happen over the summer, but a mediator will likely visit us in August," Taggart said.

Taggart said the district had proposed a 1 percent base salary increase across the board along with picking up a 2.6 percent increase to the health insurance plan.

However, Taggart said the district doesn't believe it's in a position to restore a frozen experience salary step yet due to enrollment declines in recent years and a flat enrollment expected for this fall.

"We'd love to restore that step, but can't afford it," Taggart said. "We want to do what we can for the employees, but can only do so much."

In addition to general raises, teacher salaries can increase with education, experience and merit.

Taggart said recent housing starts in Rathdrum lead district officials to believe there will be flat enrollment this fall, which is an improvement from recent years of decline. Districts with increasing enrollments receive more state funding.

Lakeland's enrollment had nearly reached 4,500, but fell to less than 4,100 this year.

Taggart said a positive change in the budget will be an increase in lottery funds. The district expects to receive about $160,000 for the upcoming year, up from $80,000 this year.