The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
“The administrative team worked well together”
The Gunnison RE1J school board last week gave its stamp of approval to the district’s nearly $14 million 2010-2011 budget that has been hit hard by state funding cuts. But district business manager Stephanie Juneau doesn’t think kids or parents will notice any big changes in the classrooms.
“I feel relieved to have the process done for this year. A lot of work was done to get the budget to this point and the administrative team worked really well together,” Juneau said.
The district is expecting to lose out on some major sources of income through lagging local property tax payments and a state revenue stream that has been reduced to a trickle.
Recisions in the amount of money the state would be giving schools came in a couple of rounds throughout the last legislative session. The first recision cost the Gunnison school district $240,000 in state funding, with an additional $46,000 reduction in tow.
To get some of that money back from the school district, the state will cut funding the district gets for each full-time student enrolled on October 1 of next year, down to $6,800 from $7,200. In total, the district will see almost $1 million less from the state in 2010-11 than this year’s funds.
At the same time, the cost of employee health insurance will be going up $56,000 next year; however, the arrangement means the cost to employees will stay the same. The budget for maintaining the newly renovated or built school buildings increased by $215,000 to cover the cost of additional custodial staff caring for the added space.
In the past school year, the district spent more than $15 million, or $1,294,611 more than they will have available next year.
To fill the holes in the budget, the district isn’t filling any staff positions that have become vacant through normal attrition, like retirement or resignation, which has earned the district nearly $400,000.
Teachers and staff are being asked to reduce their expenditures by 12 percent. The district will borrow for one time only some money from funds that have a balance sufficient to see them through the next year.
Juneau found that the district’s athletics programs had a fund balance that showed they could live without the $92,000 formerly transferred to them.
Even transportation took a hit in next year’s budget, with the loss of one bus route and one half-time position.
Despite the cuts, the district has been able to avoid laying teachers off. Juneau says the impact the budget cuts will have on students will be “not noticeable,” although “some class sizes may increase slightly.”
With the same level of funding for education being proposed for next year, Juneau isn’t taking the district’s economic uncertainty lightly. Even with the budget’s balancing act, Juneau came up with an additional $42,000 to add to the fund balance that is already more than $2 million. The fund balance is the savings the district would fall back upon in an emergency.
That $2 million would be enough to let the district keep operating for only 55 days if all of the other money dried up—about $38,000 a day.
Now that the district has finalized the budget for next year, Juneau is pleased to see that the process went as smoothly as it did, considering the circumstances. And she hopes that the experience bodes well for the district as it approaches even more challenging times ahead.
To see a copy of the approved budget, follow the Financial Information link under the school board tab on the district’s website, www.gunnisonschools.net.
