Funding for Schools Will Get Tighter
January 14, 2010
The financial outlook for Colorado schools continues to worsen, St. Vrain Valley School District officials said Wednesday night.
“The game’s changing every day,” St. Vrain chief financial officer Terry Schueler told the Board of Education.
When the state allocated school funding for this fiscal year, it directed districts to reserve 1.9 percent, which the state will take back for its fiscal emergency.
On top of that, though, the state likely will cut more funding this spring, Schueler said. It’s not yet clear how much, she said.
Last spring, the state cut funding by $35 per pupil, or about $850,000 for the St. Vrain district. The 1.9 percent kept in escrow equaled $3.4 million.
At the same time, projected cuts to the 2010-11 budget continue to deepen. Gov. Bill Ritter proposed cutting education by 6 percent, or about $11 million for the St. Vrain Valley School District.
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Now, school board member Rick Hammans said, funding for next year could be 8 percent to 10 percent less than it would be under the usual funding formula.
In St. Vrain, that would mean getting between $6,557 and $6,415 per pupil, instead of $7,128. Overall, that means $15 million to $18 million less for the district.
Superintendent Don Haddad wants the public to understand that this financial problem is not the district’s fault.
“We have not, as a district, created this fiscal issue,” Haddad said.
Although Amendment 23 requires the Legislature to fund education at the rate of inflation plus 1 percent, lawmakers can change how they support such things as special education or extra assistance for low-income students.
At its Jan. 27 meeting, the school board will vote on an amended 2009-10 budget that will reflect this year’s salary increases, revenue and expenditures for projects related to the mill-levy override.
The budget that was adopted in October reflected a $16.6 million balance; with the changes, the balance is less than $100,000, Schueler said.
Raises and benefit increases for administrators, teachers and classified employees cost $15 million, she said.