Draft school budget plan painful but pragmatic

No forced reductions in instructional staffing

As Stephanie Juneau displayed an early draft of the 2010-11 budget on a new smartboard at a school board meeting on Monday, March 8, the newly renovated room at Lake Elementary School felt like the scene of an accident. No one wanted to look, but then it wasn’t something you see every day.

The spreadsheet reflected funding cuts approaching $1 million from an overall budget of $14 million.
Early recommendations call for taking a hefty chunk out of reserve funds, cutting payroll substantially through attrition, asking departments to slash more than 10 percent of costs and running a lean athletic department.
Juneau, the district’s business manager, has been watching next year’s budget shrink since last year, when word of belt tightening at the state level—where Colorado’s 178 school districts get most of their funding—started to spread.
Last July, the state anticipated a budget shortfall of $384 million and six months later those projections had almost doubled, leaving programs like public education to bear the brunt of the ensuing budget cuts.
Since then, estimates for the amount the districts will be getting in June have gotten only smaller, and it isn’t over. Juneau told the board that another reduction in state funding could be on the way.
“Depending on how the March 20 state forecast comes out, there could be a third recision this year,” Juneau said. “So we’ll just wait until they tell us.”
The first recision cost the district $240,000 in state funding with an additional $46,000 reduction coming shortly after. According to the information Juneau currently has from the state, the formula used to calculate school funding, which includes the first two recisions, is going to generate 7 percent, or about $945,000, less for the district next year.
Juneau said, “[That recision] is split between the two top categories: local sources, primarily property taxes, and state sources. That $457,618 is our current state share that they’re talking about simply being reduced to zero.”
To prepare for the lean days ahead, the district’s administrative council (ADCO) is looking for pockets of air, meeting weekly to come up with ways to cushion the shortfall. The draft budget bore the marks of the team’s solutions so far, mostly in the form of transfers between funds and parentheses denoting budget reductions.
Juneau said the district would be able to maintain funding to programs like the Marble Charter School by reducing payment to the capital reserve fund and reducing the fund from its current $300,000 to about $120,000.
“We could be looking at a one-year savings of $181,000 so we have to be clear that we can do that because we made a bus purchase this year, we made a vehicle purchase this year, we have all these brand new buildings, but those expenditures are going to have to come back to the budget in subsequent years,” Juneau said. “So we can take it, but we need to be cognizant of that in the future.”
And there will be a boost to the amount of money the district receives from the federal Payment in Lieu of Taxes program, which pays counties for non-taxable public lands. That still leaves Juneau and ADCO about $657,000 short of covering general fund expenditures.
So the red pen was turned on Instructional Services, like salaries, supplies and materials and the school district’s property, that make up the largest share of the district’s budget. The staff that is classified under that heading includes classroom teachers and their aides.
“What we’re doing as a proposed scenario is reducing salaries in that area by $397,000 and that is accomplished… through attrition, leaves of absences and retirement,” Juneau said. “There will be no forced reductions in instructional staffing, which has been a lot of work and we feel very proud to be presenting this scenario.”
The cost of benefits for the district will also be going up $56,000 next year; however, the arrangement means the district will carry the entire cost and employee premiums will stay the same. The district is also asking each department to reduce the everyday expenditures on materials by 12 percent.
Juneau also found that the district’s athletics programs had enough of a fund balance that they could live without the $92,000 that has been transferred to them in the past. But that is a one-year savings, “and that money will be put back after next year so we can continue to support the athletics programs,” Juneau said.
“In essence, what the athletic directors have to do is take the money they have now, plus the gate revenues they expect to receive, and live on that until June 30, 2011,” Juneau said, “and they should be able to, if they follow the budgets they presented this year.”
In all $471,000, or more than 5 percent, has been cut from the Instructional Services line in next year’s budget. Supporting services like guidance counselors and school nurses, instructional staff like librarians and educational aides will also see a $464,000 reduction in funding next year.
Even transportation took a hit in next year’s budget, with the loss of one bus route and one half-time position.
The only fund in the district’s 2010-11 budget to see a sizeable gain is the operations and maintenance fund, which will get an additional $215,000 next year.
“In order to support our beautiful and expanded facilities, this $215,000 includes the addition of two and a half [full-time equivalent] for custodial staff, it includes increased utility usage, it includes contracted services, increased purchases for custodial and maintenance supplies,” Juneau said.
The budget presentation was only a preparation for a presentation of the actual draft budget, which the board will see April 26.
The team has laid out a step-by-step accounting of budget deadlines, the legislative session and the school year concluding June 14, 2010 with the adoption of next year’s budget.
Superintendent Jon Nelson said, “As we move forward we believe that this is a very obtainable timeline. Our team left no stone unturned. We are trying to be as thorough as possible.”
To see a copy of the first draft of the district’s 2010-11 budget, visit gunnisonschools.net, click on the “financial information” link under the “School Board” tab. A copy of the district’s timeline for final budget adoption is also available online.