District 11 board hears public comment and details of proposed 2025–26 budget that emphasizes pay and instruction

Superintendent Joel Goll and Deputy Superintendent/Chief Resource Officer Brandon Comfort presented Colorado Springs School District 11’s proposed 2025–26 budget at a May 28 special meeting, outlining a district-wide compensation increase, higher shares of spending on instruction and planned capital investments.

The superintendent read the message that opens the district’s 2025–26 budget book and said the plan “continues to prioritize what matters most, compensation,” including “a 10% raise across the board and higher recurring increases for roles that directly support instruction.” Comfort told the board the proposal increases the portion of general-fund spending directed to instruction to 59.9% (up from roughly 57%) and that the district expects to present a midyear true-up as state funding figures finalize.

The district’s budget presentation included these figures and points presented to the board: expected per-pupil funding of $11,546 (subject to midyear adjustment), total general-fund resources north of $400 million when fund balances and transfers are included, and capital appropriations on the order of $198 million (partly reflecting $120–$130 million in Certificates of Participation that cross fiscal years). Comfort said the district carries approximately $100 million in combined fund balances and contingency reserves.

Carl Schuler, chair of the district’s budget advisory subcommittee, summarized the committee review and said the committee generally supported the administration’s recommendations after extensive review of assumptions, midyear modifications and the site-based budgeting (SBB) pilot.

During the public hearing portion of the meeting, Rebecca Kenderdine, identified herself as “a teacher in District 11,” and said she participated in a CKLA curriculum pilot but could not obtain materials for her English-language-learner students despite repeated requests. She asked the board to “investigate this disconnect” and said she found, via board documents, that money remained unspent the prior year.

Board members asked questions about the budget’s structure and specifics. Director Nelson asked why preschool fund balances were called out on a particular attachment while other enterprise funds (for example, Food Services) were not; Comfort said preschool funding flows through a different mechanism and promised a follow-up explanation. Board members and staff discussed how Title I discretionary funds were integrated into the general fund for clearer school-level budgeting and that some Title I positions were moved from grant funds into the general fund (Comfort said total FTE across schools rose by about 79 FTE year-over-year). The board and administration discussed the nonrecurring (one-time) versus recurring portions of discretionary and programmatic funding, and the use and remaining balance of mill-levy override (MLO) dollars (Comfort said about $7,530,000 shown in one table represented unallocated, nonrecurring MLO dollars, not the district’s full MLO revenue).

Several board members praised the shift of more dollars to instruction and the planned compensation increases. Directors also raised operational and policy questions tied to the budget: whether the district would continue paying a supplemental portion of a union president’s salary after a master agreement expires (Comfort said the proposed budget continued that funding but that the board could direct a change); and whether the board should discuss the district’s practices for employee-group representation and dues deduction (board members asked legal counsel to brief the board in executive session next week).

Comfort said the budget will be brought as an action item at the district’s regular board meeting next week, allowing the board to adopt the budget or propose revisions before final approval.

Votes at the meeting were not used to adopt the budget at this session; the budget documents were presented in a public hearing and will be returned as action items at the regular meeting scheduled in the coming week.