Recent budget adjustments at the state level have provided some comfort for Montezuma-Cortez School District Re-1, but the district is still facing a $2 million cut in next years funding.
The new number is $300,000 less than the district originally believed would be necessary.
The figures we are seeing tell us we have to do a $2 million cut, said Re-1 Superintendent Stacy Houser. We had an $800,000 budget deficit from last year due to insurance premiums going up, and we will be $1.2 million short from the state.
The numbers coming from the state are slightly better than anticipated due to the state Senates decision to avoid Gov. John Hickenloopers $332 million cut to public schools, lowering the number to $250 million. The cut equates to a $373 decrease in per-pupil funding.
Because the numbers from the state have been subject to change, Re-1 officials decided not to use the priority-based budgeting tool utilized last year to trim roughly $500,000 from the district budget. Instead, budgeting decisions are being left in the hands of department heads and building principals.
PBB (priority based budgeting) is really built on the ability for a department to give and take within their budget, Houser said. It is not designed for everybody to have a 7 percent cut one year and a 10 percent cut the next year. We also wanted to postpone until we could find out definite numbers, and priority-based budgeting requires too much lead time.
Cuts have been discussed at each building in the district, and principals are responsible for assembling their own review team.
We have already met with the principals and have a preliminary sketch of what the cuts will look like, but a lot of the specifics arent in place yet, Houser said.
Melissa Brunner, Re-1 chief financial officer, said the district hopes to use attrition through retirements and resignations to balance the budget. Though the district has not completely ruled out the elimination of positions, it appears there will not be an across-the-board reduction in force.
Houser said district staff are as aware of budget discussions as they can be and he has met with staff at various buildings in an attempt to alleviate fears.
This is not the first year the local district has had to make tough financial decisions, and Houser said the district is beyond the point where cuts can be made without impacting the classroom.
If I had to categorize what this year will look like, it will be shared resources and it will be reduced positions, he said. There will be reductions really at every level. In the past in education weve always tried to protect the kids from the cuts, to save the kids in the classroom because thats where the focus of education is. Thats not possible anymore. This is going to impact kids.
Though there is no way to be certain, Houser said this is not the last year the district will be required to make cuts. His theory is continued cuts are an attempt to pass the burden back to the local community supporting education through taxes. The state government now picks up more than 60 percent of the cost of local schools, compared to around 40 percent two decades ago.
Houser said that is well and good for larger districts, but it is difficult to raise the necessary funds in rural districts such as Re-1.
In our community it is difficult to generate the tax dollars to support education at an adequate level, he said. We are not one of the wealthy counties in the state, and it makes it difficult for our citizens to bear the brunt of funding education for Montezuma County school districts.
Though the future funding picture is dim, Houser was quick to note that blame is not beneficial in the budgeting process.
The real key to it is avoiding the blame game, he said. It doesnt do any good to blame the community or the state or whomever for whatever the lack of resources or opportunity. This is the lot that has been cast. This is what we have to deal with. There is a national movement going against taxes, and that is easy to understand. But it is hard to see it impact the most vulnerable members of society as directly as these cuts have impacted them.
Journal Denver Bureau Staff Writer Joe Hanel contributed to this report.
Reach Kimberly Benedict at kimberlyb@cortezjournal.com.