Baby steps. That’s how the budgetary progress being made at the Gwinn Area Community Schools might be characterized and measured, based on recent board of education moves.

According to GACS Superintendent Sandy Petrovich, the panel approved a new General Fund spending package that went into effect July 1 that includes proposed revenue of $11,562,561 and expenditures of $11,293,536.

However, combined with a deficit of $367,912, the district’s fund balance is projected to be $98,887 by the end of fiscal year 2018-19 in June.

That’s a significant improvement over the actual 2016-17 budget, which showed revenue of $10,713,526 and expenditures of $11,388,599 — a deficit approaching $700,000.

Put another way, the Gwinn district, swimming in red ink not all that long ago, is starting to move in the right direction — baby steps, one might say.

“We’re making steady progress at climbing out of our deficit, and once we get out of our deficit, then we have to start working on building our fund balance back,” Petrovich said for a Mining Journal story on the matter. “So, we’re headed in the right direction, and I think we’re being efficient with it and working hard to accomplish that within a short amount of time.”

Certainly, Petrovich gets a lot of the credit, positive vibes she shares with the rest of the GACS staff who helped to “make it happen.”

We’d like to recognize the staff and board for doing a tough job the right way.

The students will be the ultimate beneficiaries of your efforts.