By Carolyn Cole/Staff Writer
published Jan. 3, 2008

Growth in the Mustang community continued to boom during the last six months of 2007, as over 250 additional students attended class in the Mustang School District.

The district’s net assessed property valuation bloomed by over 12 percent — a sign of continued construction of new homes in the area.
As more people flocked to the area, school officials continued to update plans for the future.

Meanwhile, Mustang city officials grappled with questions related to fireworks, expanding the wastewater treatment facility and improving fire protection services to the area.

July

Redlands Community College students paid $6 more per credit hour in the fall after the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education approved the school’s tuition increase request in June.

Tuition is $88 per credit hour, up from $82 per credit hour — a 7.3-percent increase. The move puts Redlands at No. 14 among Oklahoma’s 25 public colleges in tuition costs. Community colleges overall requested an average a 7.7 percent tuition increase.

Redlands spokeswoman Meg Cannon said the school needed to increase tuition to cover rising expenses, such as fuel and electricity.
“We need to be able to maintain our level of service to students,” she said.

Just over $3 million remained in Mustang School District general fund coffers after one of its toughest financial years.

The amount represented 7.35 percent of the district’s general fund, which is just over $40 million. While the district didn’t meet officials’ goal of carrying 8 percent of the budget into the next fiscal year, Finance Director Kay Medcalf told school board members the district was in a stronger financial position than many other school systems.

While the district did finish the fiscal year with about $160,000 more in the general fund than last year, Medcalf said it is a smaller percentage of the budget in comparison since the fund has grown. Last year, the district carried over 7.75 percent of its general fund.