Bayfield school officials have started work on the budget for the next school year, but with a lot of unknowns.
One is how much state per pupil funding the district will get, which might not be known until early May. The other is how many pupils will be tallied in the official October funding count.
"Our enrollment has really increased since October," District Finance Director Amy Lyons told the school board on March 22. Families have become very mobile, she said.
Superintendent Troy Zabel said it's at least 60 kids since October. The district doesn't get funding for them after the official head count is completed. The question is how many will still be around for the next official October count, so there will be more funding. "We're at the highest enrollment we've ever had, but our staff is the same as the mid 2000s. ... We aren't going to lose all 60 of those kids. Even 30 is a huge increase." He listed increased staffing needs as another challenge the district could face.
It will be another month before state legislators determine the amount of K-12 funding, Lyons said. Funding goes up in one place and down in another. The district might get another $200,000 from the state for enrollment growth, but the legislature's per pupil funding cut referred to as the Negative Factor could be $1,000 per student this year, meaning around $1.3 million that the district won't get, she said.
The legislature implemented the Negative Factor several years ago during the recession. Districts around the state have been pushing for a couple years to end the Negative Factor and make up money the districts didn't get during that time.
"The latest CASB (Colorado Association of School Boards) forecast is, they are thinking the Negative Factor could increase," Zabel said. "The light at the end of the tunnel is still off." But he said Bayfield is in better financial shape than many districts.
Along with enrollment, the district's cost for employee retirement (PERA) keeps going up, as does employee health insurance, Lyons said. A top priority is to be able to give step pay increases to staff. "We had a three-year freeze during the recession," she said. "It's a lasting impact on staff."
According to Lyons's budget memo, the governor's proposed budget included new school funding based on an inflation increase of 1.2 percent and a funded pupil count of 1,305. That would be $200,000 for Bayfield. Enrollment as of January was around 1,400.
Lyons continued, "The state's 'negative factor' represents a loss of just under $1K per pupil and is approximately 12 percent."
Increased required PERA contributions will add around $85,000 to personnel costs before any salary increases are considered, she reported.
Health insurance costs will increase around $65,000. "We are considering making some adjustments to the deductible amount covered by the district in order to use these funds to offset other priorities/needs identified through our budgeting process," she said. She also listed a $170,000 cost increase for staff step increases plus costs for several new staff positions being considered.
"A lot of these are direct impacts of increased enrollment," Lyons told the board. "We've been in the cutting mode for the last few years. We can't do all these things on the list without going into fund balance or finding some place else to cut."
The preliminary budget for the next school year must be adopted by June 30. A final budget will be approved in the winter after the funded enrollment count is known.
