Despite declining enrollment numbers and an almost $2 million reduction in funding from the state, the Durango School District 9-R School Board approved a budget Tuesday night that was far from the bare bones budgets most districts are facing right now.
In the $39 million budget, total cuts equalled about $300,000, and the district also will increase spending on teaching positions and salaries, technology and new programs in the schools, said Laine Gibson, the district’s chief financial officer.
It’s all because of the $3.2 million property-tax increase voters approved in November, Gibson said.
“Where other districts are making cuts, we didn’t have to,” he said.
As a result of the mill-levy increase, property taxes for a home valued at $400,000 went up by about $60 a year, or $5 a month.
Of the $3.2 million, $1.5 million will be used to maintain current class sizes next year, and $1.3 million will be used to improve teacher salary competitiveness. Among the salary increases covered are a 5.5 percent average salary increase for teachers and a 4.5 percent average salary increase for support personnel. Another $400,000 of the money will be used for technology and innovative programs such as increasing the connectivity speed in elementary schools and providing more teacher training for schools associated with the International Baccalaureate program, an international learning program.
Most of the district’s budget cuts will be absorbed through a 5 percent cut to central office nonsalary budgets and a 10 percent cut to school nonsalary budgets, which include supplies, travel and purchased services, Gibson said.
The district also will lose about 10 teacher aides and 3½ teacher positions this year if anticipated declines in enrollment play out, he said. The district estimated it will have 156 fewer students next year because of the opening of the charter school Mountain Middle School, the addition of another grade at Animas High School and a slightly smaller kindergarten class than this year’s graduating senior class.
Comparable districts throughout the state are in the process of approving cuts that reach into the millions. Montrose County School District is facing $3.7 million in cuts for next school year, Colorado Springs area Lewis-Palmer School District’s proposed budget is $2.9 million less than this year’s, and the Montezuma-Cortez School District on Tuesday approved a budget that slashes expenditures by about $2 million.
Facing $600,000 less in state funds next year, Bayfield School District for the first time approved a budget that includes a 10 percent cuts to supplies and materials budgets in all departments, said Amy Lyons, the district’s director of finance. In addition, the district will not fill the five positions vacated by resignations or retirements last year, Lyons said.
The Ignacio School District is expected to vote on a budget Thursday that includes cuts to materials and supplies and the loss of up to five teaching positions, said Superintendent Rocco Fuschetto.
ecowan@durango herald.com
