CHERRY TWP — The Butler County Vocational-Technical School’s proposed 2017-18 budget was unanimously approved by the Moniteau School Board last week.

The district’s portion of the vo-tech budget is $217,255. This is $15,555 less than the district’s portion of the 2016-17 budget.

John D’Amore, district business manager, said the district had 49 students at the vo-tech in 2014-15 and 59 students in 2015-16. The district has 46 students at the vo-tech this school year.

“Moniteau’s average share of enrollment at the vo-tech has decreased in relation to all county member school districts. This is a governing factor for the vo-tech budget,” he said.

D’Amore said the vo-tech calculates Moniteau’s fee according to the district’s three-year rolling average number of students.

He said, “Overall, vo-tech attendance for all schools has increased in the county.”

D’Amore said the vo-tech had 781 students in 2014-15. The school had 895 students in 2015-16 and it has 902 students this year.

The vo-tech accepts students from all seven school districts in the county.

Sean Arney, Moniteau superintendent, said the number of students in the district is fairly consistent. He said the fluctuating number of district students participating at the vo-tech does not reflect a decline in district student enrollment.

“It just depends on the student interest,” Arney said.

Besides voting as a board to approve the budget, each director cast a vote of approval as an individual board member. This is part of the larger budget approval process that involves other school districts from the county.