District outlines budget-prioritization teams after forecast shows fund balance under board goal

Director of Finance Val presented the district's budget outlook and recruitment plan for budget-prioritization teams at the Jan. 13 board meeting.

Val said the district ended fiscal 2024 with a roughly 13.8% fund balance, below the board's 14% goal, and currently projects end-of-year fund balance for 2025–26 of just over 12%. She described a combination of factors that are stressing the general fund, including a roughly 7% enrollment decline since 2019 (about 222 fewer students), an ongoing special education cross-subsidy estimated at roughly $4.3 million annually and inflationary pressures across costs such as utilities and insurance.

Val highlighted specifics: a summer-unemployment reimbursement program that was covered partly with a one-time allocation in 2023 left a remaining exposure of roughly $217,000 in 2024, of which the district paid about $21,000 after allocations; and contributions to the Teachers Retirement Association (TRA) have been rising incrementally over multiple years and the employer portion will see a larger scheduled increase effective July 1. "Effective July 1, it's actually increasing, point to 0.75% to 9 a half percent. So that's an 8.6% increase," Val said, describing the adjustment as a percentage increase in employer-cost terms compared with earlier years.

To respond proactively, Val said the district will convene five budget-package working groups with community and staff volunteers (targeting 10–15 people per group) and hold a community meeting. Meeting dates for the working groups are Feb. 11, 18 and 25; a public community meeting is planned for March 11; preliminary compilation and board briefing are scheduled April 15 with a formal recommendation expected April 28.

Dr. Hillman added that the district will solicit volunteers through a family update with a Google form for sign-up or nominations and use local media and social channels to recruit broadly. He emphasized the district's current position of relative financial strength, noting more than $8 million in reserves and a preference for a thoughtful, inclusive response rather than an emergency reaction.

Board member Ben asked clarifying questions about which employees are affected by summer unemployment and the statewide TRA increase; Val said summer unemployment typically affects hourly, seasonal and some educational assistant roles and confirmed the TRA change applies statewide.

Val closed by saying the district will present an annual financial forecast at the Jan. 27 meeting and continue working through three-year projections to guide prioritization work.