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School district to see more cuts
By Nicole Chillino
While it has not been easy for the School District 38 Board of Education to pare back the district’s budget the past couple years, the upcoming 2010-11 budget will be the most challenging yet.
The board is not being asked to do anything differently to adjust the budget than it has the past two years, but it is being asked to make deeper and more difficult cuts, said board member John Mann.
For the next budget, the district will have to trim approximately $3 million from its budget, though it is a volatile figure, said Dr. Ray Blanch, superintendent. Over the next three years, the district’s loss of revenue and increased expenditures are projected to leave D-38 with $5.4 million less to work with. The drop is the result of several factors, including a decrease in enrollment, the requirement for more money to be paid into the Colorado Public Employees’ Retirement Association and continually increasing utility costs.
The board would like to continue to keep the cuts away from classrooms as much as possible, but it is difficult to do with more than 86 percent of the district’s general fund budget going toward people working for the district.
“People are going to have to give some input about what services that we currently provide — that they really, really, really like — are you going to give up,” said board member elect Jeff Ferguson.
In the coming school year, the district will have to make cuts that affect students and teachers, Blanch said.
He sent a message to his staff last week and is beginning a process of collecting input from district staff and community members regarding what elements of the district are most valued and what the groups of people would suggest cutting from the budget. Each suggestion will be weighted based on feasibility and the amount of savings the item will produce.
The board has not made any decisions regarding areas of the budget that will and will not be cut.
Blanch said he would like final decisions regarding the budget made by the beginning of February.
The board is not being asked to do anything differently to adjust the budget than it has the past two years, but it is being asked to make deeper and more difficult cuts, said board member John Mann.
For the next budget, the district will have to trim approximately $3 million from its budget, though it is a volatile figure, said Dr. Ray Blanch, superintendent. Over the next three years, the district’s loss of revenue and increased expenditures are projected to leave D-38 with $5.4 million less to work with. The drop is the result of several factors, including a decrease in enrollment, the requirement for more money to be paid into the Colorado Public Employees’ Retirement Association and continually increasing utility costs.
The board would like to continue to keep the cuts away from classrooms as much as possible, but it is difficult to do with more than 86 percent of the district’s general fund budget going toward people working for the district.
“People are going to have to give some input about what services that we currently provide — that they really, really, really like — are you going to give up,” said board member elect Jeff Ferguson.
In the coming school year, the district will have to make cuts that affect students and teachers, Blanch said.
He sent a message to his staff last week and is beginning a process of collecting input from district staff and community members regarding what elements of the district are most valued and what the groups of people would suggest cutting from the budget. Each suggestion will be weighted based on feasibility and the amount of savings the item will produce.
The board has not made any decisions regarding areas of the budget that will and will not be cut.
Blanch said he would like final decisions regarding the budget made by the beginning of February.
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