CATLIN — School officials unveiled a tentative $4.92 million budget for the upcoming fiscal year on Thursday that includes about $265,000 in deficit spending.

Superintendent Gary Lewis said reductions in local property tax money and in expected general state aid payments will result in the district receiving about $155,000 less next year. He said he typically underestimates revenues and overestimates expenses, and hopes that the district will finish the year in the black, instead of having to tap into reserve funds to meet expenses.

The Catlin School Board is expected to vote on the tentative budget in September.

Lewis said the board will soon have its third negotiating meeting with representatives of the teachers' union. The prior three-year agreement expired on June 30.

Lewis said that the talks between the two groups have gone well.

The board also signed a letter of intent with CTS of St. Louis for work on the gymnasium building.

School officials hope to add a separate heating and cooling system for the gymnasium building and to replace some windows and doors in the building with more energy-efficient ones.

Catlin High still uses the original boiler from the 1920s for heat, and steam from the high school boiler is piped to the nearby gymnasium building for heat.

In other business, the board learned that Catlin High School students failed to make adequate yearly progress on the reading portion of the PSAE tests this past spring.

Catlin High Principal Kevin Thomas said students met state goals in the math portion of the tests, but narrowly missed the goals in reading.

Catlin Grade School students also failed to meet adequate yearly progress on the reading portion of the ISAT tests this past spring.