Ashe County Schools has prepared their county budget request for fiscal year 2013-14 Assistant Superintendent Phyllis Yates announced at the Board of Education’s April meeting Monday.

The school system will request a total of $4,771,104 from the county this year, according to their annual budget estimate.

The request was unanimously approved by the board.

The request had not been drafted earlier, Yates said, because “the legislature has not been very forthcoming with discretionary reduction for 2013-14.”

Total discretionary reduction was $796,096, she said.

In addition, the state cut ACS’s planning allotment by $61,345 — a 32.37 percent reduction, she said. Another $38,623 was cut from the textbook allotment — an 18.45 percent reduction.

“When you add them together, you get $896,064,” she said.

Yates said ACS has an agreement with the Ashe County Board of Commissioners to split the cost of any budget shortfall resulting from discretionary reduction. The school system pays half the cost from its fund balance, she said.

“We would ask the commissioners for $448,032,” she said.

This figure is added to ACS’s $4 million projected outlay for school current expenses, for a total of $4,448,032 requested to fund general operations.

Requested school capital outlay for the year is $200,000, with paving needs at Blue Ridge Elementary listed as a priority.

Another $5,000 is requested for maintenance and operation of Ashe County Middle School’s swimming pool. Yates said these funds are needed because the pool’s operating costs usually exceed its revenues.

The school system is requesting $118,072 for equipment expenses. Each year, the county allots funding for upgrades to technology infrastructure and equipment, she said.

The commissioners have been “very generous” in meeting ACS’s technology needs in years past, Yates said, so the equipment expense request would remain at the same level.

County Manager Dr. Pat Mitchell will present the ACS budget estimate to the Board of Commissioners in May, she said.