David Douglas outlines tiered plan to cover multimillion-dollar budget shortfall as federal grants face cuts

David Douglas School Board members heard a presentation Jan. 23 from district staff laying out updated revenue projections, a multi-tier reduction plan and looming federal grant uncertainty as the district prepares a budget for spring.

Superintendent/Presenter (identified in the meeting as Sebastian) told the board the district had been tracking a deficit and must ‘‘by law, balance it,’’ and described updated enrollment and revenue data that narrowed an earlier $22 million shortfall estimate. "We had about a $22,000,000" projected deficit previously, the presenter said; updated numbers and targeted freezes now put the likely reductions to balance the budget at roughly $6,500,000 in a best-case projection.

The presentation laid out four tiers of reduction considerations. Tier 1 would produce roughly $8.8 million through central-office, maintenance, transportation and school staffing adjustments, including class-size ratio changes that would reduce licensed teaching FTEs at elementary, middle and high school levels. Tier 2 would add eliminations such as building principals and assistant principals to reach about $11 million. Tier 3 and 4 would cut deeper into student-facing licensed staff and instructional assistants and reach as high as $13 million to $16 million, staff said.

Why it matters: District staff emphasized the decisions will affect personnel, services and classrooms. One presenter told the board, "In the school district... 85% of the budget from the state school fund is people," stressing changes will have personal impacts on…