Each year the budget process begins in December and January, when the School Board establishes broad parameters for budget development guidelines. The administration follows the board’s parameters and reinforces these parameters during actual budget development. These guidelines are available on pages 11 and 12 of the Guide to Understanding the Budget; they were observed and incorporated into the 2023-24 budget.
State revenue as a percentage of total revenue comprises 67.9% of the district’s operating revenue, an increase of 2.05% over the prior fiscal year (65.85%). This is 3.5% below the 2018-2019 historical peak in state funding as a percentage of total operating revenue (71.4%).
The state legislature has continued to increase education funding pursuant to the McCleary decision; however, a large portion of this “new” revenue comes in the form of salary and benefit allocations, making the funds less flexible than local levy dollars.
The legislature implemented significant structural changes to the education funding for 2019-20 and beyond, which included a decrease in local levy authority (capped at $2,500 per student or $2.50/1,000, whichever is less and adjusted by the consumer price index [CPI] annually). This drop in local levy funding is coupled with new restrictions on what and how local levy funds can be used to support and supplement basic education.
The district has a voter approved 2024 Educational Programs and Operations (EP&O) levy amount of $64M. However, the district can no longer use 2019-20 school year enrollment in the calculation for enrichment levy authority and is estimating to collect $60.4M based on current enrollment. The 2023-24 budget has a 2024 calendar year levy of $3,142.71 per student. With the change to actual enrollment in the levy maximum calculation, the district will now likely see a flattening of the year over year increases in levy dollars and will rely on continued efficiency and stewardship in utilizing taxpayer dollars by managing expenditures to meet ongoing needs.
Noteworthy legislative changes impacting revenue for the 2023-24 budget include:
- State-funded salary allocation based on the Implicit Price Deflator (IPD) of 3.7%.
- Adjustment to prototypical funding allocation for counselors, nurses, social workers, and psychologists.
- Increased special education excess cost funding multipliers.
During 2022-23, fund balance was bolstered by an unpredicted mid-year increase in transportation operation funding ($4 million), transportation safety net funding ($1 million), and a sustained month over month increase in enrollment at the elementary level ($3.5 million). This lessened the extent of the possible reduction level for the 2023-24 budget year.
However, due to previous significant enrollment decline and projected decline of 210 FTE (based on Oct. 1 count) in the 2023-24 school year, it was still necessary for the district to make reductions of approximately $9 million to continue to align spending to resources. The majority of the reductions came from central administration and operations ($7 million) and the remaining from school budgets and staff ($2 million). The amount represented a reduction of 8.2% of the central administration and operations total budget and 0.7% of the total school budgets and staff budget.
To keep staff and community informed and seek input, we offer several communication avenues. We maintain a budget website with a timeline and ongoing updates; the School Board scheduled time at each business meeting for legislative and budget updates (the meetings are available for the public to attend in person or watch online), administrators met with key groups such as the PTSA to provide updates; and the district shared regular updates about budget information via the 411 Weekly Bulletin.
