The numbers keep changing, but the Natchez-Adams School District expects to lose about $189,000 in state funding in this budget year.

&uot;It still up in the air,&uot; Superintendent Dr. Carl Davis said at Thursday’s regular school board meeting. &uot;And there’s really not a big effort right now to solve the problem on the part of the legislature.&uot;

The shortfall includes about $129,000 from the district’s minimum program funding, a system that provides district with funding based on their enrollment.

In recent days the number has fluctuated from as high as $294,000 down to its current $129,000, Davis said.

The district also expects to lose $60,000 from the Education Enhancement Fund, which is funded through a 1-percent sales tax. &uot;(It’s money) that we didn’t budget for originally,&uot; Davis said. &uot;We just didn’t know.&uot;

Further adding to the problem, the district also had to pay $25,000 in out-of-court-settlements to about 25 employees not paid overtime in recent years.

The district has also seen an increase in its natural gas bills.

For example it usually cost $2,500 a month to heat Braden School but the district’s most recent bill was as high as $11,000, Davis said.

Despite the many shortfalls. Davis said the district &uot;will be OK&uot; this year and hopefully next year as well.

&uot;We’re going to have to dig into our reserves,&uot; Davis said.

On Thursday, the school board voted to transfer $579,625 from its 16th section fund into its district maintenance fund in response to some of the problem

Also during Thursday’s meeting, Davis gave the board an update on the district’s first surplus equipment auction.

The district raised $24,000 by auctioning off 223 groups of items to 138 registered bidders.

&uot;When you consider $24,000 for what we consider junk – that’s not bad,&uot; Davis said.

District officials say they plan to have more auctions in the future since they now know a market exists for the items.

The board also accepted a $50,000 grant to improve reading programs for students in the district’s special education program, as well as a $67,197 school improvement grant to be used in implementation of the Reading Renaissance Program at Central Alternative School.

-Received an update on a new Explore Net class that will teach students had to build, take apart and troubleshoot computers.