As the end of the school year draws to a close, the Mercer Island School District is able to begin the process of working on the next year’s district budget.

Everything is on track at the moment, with no side effects from the school bond failure earlier this spring. The district, as of the end of April, had 77 more students than expected. While it’s much too early to know what the district’s enrollment numbers will be for the fall, the trend of increasing enrollment has continued for MISD.

Dean Mack, the executive director of business services and human resources, said as of now things look good.

The district’s only major project this summer will be to install six new portable classrooms at Islander Middle School and Island Park and Lakeridge elementaries. The new classrooms will help accommodate the increase in students.

One area that the district doesn’t have to worry about in the near future is rising gas prices. Mack said because the district won’t be transporting students for the next three months, the higher summer prices don’t usually affect costs too much.

“In the long-term, we figure it’s going to go down,” he said.

The budget is likely to be finalized in July and approved by the School Board during its two August meetings.