The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
Recent revenue projections replace $89 million in state education fund
The Gunnison Watershed School District won’t have to find $300,000 to cut from next year’s budget after an early gift arrived from the Governor’s Office of State Planning and Budgeting shortly before the holiday break.
In its December Revenue Projection, the governor’s office says, “The weakening in the economy that influenced the projections in September has reversed and there is more momentum in the economy than was previously evident.” That means about $231 million in the state’s budget, based on current estimates.
Superintendent Jon Nelson told the school board at a meeting Monday, January 9 that due to the higher revenue projections by the state, Governor Hickenlooper asked that the previously proposed $89 million in education cuts be removed from consideration. Now the proposal needs to make it through the legislature.
Not only is the governor asking to stop the cuts, the Colorado Department of Education is planning to ask the legislature for an additional $19.7 million to fund at-risk pupils and students who are out of the state.
“We’re looking at having none of those cuts that were predicted for us, which we anticipated to be around $300,000 if our enrollment stayed flat,” Nelson said. “That said, that doesn’t mean there won’t be any cuts, because enrollment is somewhat unpredictable and we do know that some of our static costs will likely go up.”
However, Nelson says, the news out of the governor’s office was good to hear, adding that he doubts the next quarterly economic review will change much, “based on revenue projections.”
The district hadn’t started making cuts to the budget or even really looking. But they had “identified what that amount could mean potentially” if it came out of the budget. And, Nelson says, the administrative council hasn’t changed its outlook drastically, even without the immediate threat of cuts.
“Obviously, we’ll continue to take a look at everything to make sure we’re operating as efficiently as possible,” he says.
