Parkland College trustees Wednesday night approved a budget that is 3 percent less than last year's. Board Chairman Dana Trimble said it still allows for quality education.

Spending for the fiscal year that began July 1 will total $55.3 million, down from $57.2 million last year.
But while last year's budget was upset by the virtual elimination of any state funding, this year's projects only $2.5 million in money from the state government. In past years, Parkland counted on about $5 million from Springfield.

Parkland received its full $1.8 million "stopgap budget" funding earlier this month, said Chris Randles, vice president and chief financial officer at the Champaign-based community college.

This year's budget anticipates a slight surplus at the end of the year while last year's budget ended about $5 million in the red.

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