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Asheville City Schools projects about $7 million shortfall; board weighs cuts, enrollment strategies and grant options
Summary
Finance staff told the Asheville City Schools board the district faces an updated projected shortfall of about $6.95 million and outlined staffing and program changes staff will model to reduce the gap.
District finance staff updated the board on an emerging budget shortfall of roughly $6.95 million for the coming fiscal year and presented options staff will model to narrow the gap.
Heidi (district finance staff) summarized pressures that drive the projected deficit, including lower student enrollment (ADM) that reduces state position allotments, continuing deficits in preschool (about $800,000 this year), an approximately $2 million shortfall connected with exceptional-children funding caps, uncertainties in state-level funding and possible large teacher-pay proposals, and recent operational and capital demands after the hurricane.
Heidi advised the board that the projection had been refined downward from an earlier $7.7 million figure to $6.95 million but cautioned that late-developing state or county budget actions and potential pay increases could change the number. She identified three categories staff will analyze for savings:
- Adjusting class-size allotments (for selected grades or schools) to capture staffing efficiencies, - Reviewing central-office positions for eliminations or consolidation, and - Modifying employee calendars (e.g., reducing 11-month assignments to 10 months where appropriate).
Board members and staff also discussed strategies to increase revenue or blunt enrollment loss: waiving out-of-district fees as an enrollment strategy (historical revenue from those fees was cited around $160,000, to be confirmed), a local supplemental property-tax increase (the board has discussed asking the county for the full 12 cents instead of the current 10.62 cents), and applying for federal Community Development Block Grant Disaster Relief (CDBG-DR) funds for capital and mitigation projects tied to hurricane damage. Board members discussed Article 39 county funding mechanics and an introduced Senate Bill 131 as factors that could affect capital funding.
Several board members urged caution over school closures and recommended a fuller, districtwide capacity analysis before any facility consolidation, arguing closures can accelerate enrollment loss and carry long-term fiscal consequences.
The board directed staff to return financial scenarios that quantify potential savings tied to class-size adjustments, central office changes and calendar modifications, and to provide a breakdown of out-of-district fees by level and updated projections for Article 39 and possible CDBG-DR grant requests. Staff said they will present options and modeled savings at an upcoming work session (target: April). Board members also asked staff for more detail on the county's projected $70 million shortfall and how that could affect school allocations.
What’s next: staff will model specific budget options and provide revenue and timing details (out-of-district fees, Article 39, CDBG-DR opportunities) for the April work session so the board can make decisions needed for the county budget cycle.
