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Finances testing school district

Superintendent looking for ideas to economize
Snowberger

The modest $23,463 positive fund balance – the difference between projected revenue and expenses in the Durango School District 9-R spending plan for 2015-16 – doesn’t mean budget officials’ balancing act is over.

They still have to factor in a yet-undetermined salary increase for 600-plus employees and Durango High School stadium improvements before the budget for the academic year beginning July 1 is adopted.

Whatever additional spending decided upon beyond the fund balance will require dipping into reserves. The district has $5.83 million in reserves, 14 percent of the budget.

District Superintendent Dan Snowberger presented the situation at a study session Tuesday at Miller Middle School.

“There’s no relief on the horizon,” Snowberger said. “If these are the best of times, we’ll have to adjust.”

The district received slightly more money from the state in 2013-14 and 2014-15 after losing 4.3 percent of state funding in 2010, 2011 and 2012. The lost state revenue was caused by declining tax revenues during the Great Recession and its aftermath.

But the district is still owed $4.7 million from the state, which it will receive in dribs and drabs because of what is called the negative factor. The negative factor is the difference between what the state owes and what the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights allows it to spend.

By law, state annual payments to school districts should reflect 1 percent, plus inflation, plus student growth. But the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights, or TABOR, limits spending to inflation, plus student growth. TABOR is a voter-approved constitutional amendment that limits state taxing and spending.

The upcoming budget contains $1.644 million for new staffing, including special-education hiring, the employee-retirement system and capital projects.

Salaries and benefits for teachers and aides accounts for 70 percent of total budget, and 10 percent of the total budget goes to salaries and benefits of noninstructional employees.

Snowberger asked participants – including some board members, parents, teachers and staff members – Tuesday for suggestions to economize.

He got an earful. Among the ideas:

Double the $65 cost for participating in sports at DHS.

Cut kindergarten to a half-day because the state funds only 58 percent of the cost (the district pays the remainder in order to have full-day kindergarten.

Sell the district office property and relocate personnel elsewhere.

Contract out after-school child care to the Boys and Girls Club.

Go to voters for a mill-levy increase for additional revenue.

Participants also noted that 9-R voters supported Amendment 66, the 2013 ballot issue would have raised taxes almost $1 billion for the state’s schools. The measure was shot down statewide, with 66 percent of the voters rejecting the tax increase.

A local tax to support education could pass muster, one person said.

daler@durangoherald.com

Mar 9, 2016
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