Special School District CFO outlines plan to 'right the ship,' seeks 35% fund balance

Cindy Romelan, chief financial officer for the Special School District of St. Louis County, told the Governing Council that the district is pursuing a multi-year plan to stabilize fund balances after several years of declines.

Romelan said at the meeting that recent budget amendments and program adjustments have reduced the district’s projected deficit trajectory and that the district’s internal target for operating fund balance is 35 percent. “We knew at that point that we needed to right our ship,” Romelan said, describing a combination of vacancy management, non‑wage cost containment and a one‑time capital‑projects reallocation as the primary near‑term strategies.

The presentation showed salary and benefit growth over three years: salaries rose from roughly $308 million in FY22 to about $319 million in FY23 and to approximately $375 million in FY24; benefits rose from about $117 million to $130 million over the same span. Romelan said those increases drove much of the downward pressure on fund balances and that the FY25 outlook, with current measures, projects an operating‑fund balance near 38–39 percent if the district “rides the ship.”

Romelan emphasized caution around revenue assumptions. Local revenues were treated as essentially flat because of an unresolved senior property‑tax freeze whose fiscal impact will not be known until after fiscal‑year close. She also said federal funding assumptions were held flat following uncertainty about a temporary federal funding freeze and referenced House Bill 727 and other legislative dynamics as material risks to revenue projections. “We will amend the budget when we actually know what those revenues are coming forward,” she said.

Council members pressed for specifics. Governing Council member Megan Bennett asked whether lower supply expenditures meant teachers were missing basic supplies; Romelan replied that the figures reflected underspending against budgeted amounts, not that teachers lacked needed items. Harold Lawson (Jennings) asked when the district would exit its projected deficits; Romelan said that under the forecast assumptions and current strategies the projection shows moving toward balance by about 2028–29, but she cautioned that the projection depends on current assumptions holding true.

Romelan also introduced a draft FY26 budget document structured to meet the Association of School Business Officials’ meritorious budget criteria, noting the draft will include an executive summary, organizational and financial sections, and at least an eight‑year data presentation. She outlined the adoption timeline: a projections work study on April 8; a full draft by April 30; Finance Committee review May 9; Board of Education draft presentation May 13; Board action on May 27; and Governing Council consideration on June 2.

Votes at a glance from the meeting: the council approved the meeting agenda and the minutes from the December meeting, and it approved the presented FY24–25 budget adjustments and the monthly financial statements. Those approvals were taken by voice or roll‑call; the meeting record shows affirmative votes but does not give a consolidated numeric roll‑call tally in the Governing Council packet.

The CFO said the district will continue monthly financial reviews, looking specifically at purchase services and supplies for additional non‑wage savings, and will present formal budget amendments to the Board of Education when revenues or expenditures firm up. The Governing Council did not take any final action on the FY26 draft at the meeting; members were invited to review the draft before the April–June adoption sequence.