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District 49 projects lower per-pupil revenue and will use $9M in reserves; student growth unlikely to fully cover gap
Summary
Budget staff told the school board that per-pupil revenue fell slightly to $11,178, the district plans to draw $9 million from reserves for 2025–26, and current projections (about 12,517 students) fall short of an estimated 13,187 needed to avoid the planned draw.
Rebecca Brooks, a budget office presenter for El Paso County Colorado School District 49, told the board at its Aug. 27 work session that a late change in the state school finance spreadsheet reduced the district's per-pupil revenue assumption from $11,185 to $11,178. The adjustment will be reflected in the midyear amended budget.
Brooks said the district has planned to use $9,000,000 of fund balance for the 2025'026 fiscal year and that the district's projected 2024'025 ending balance is closer to $17,200,000 rather than the previously estimated about $22,800,000. She said the district also changed a personnel-expenditure assumption from 97% to 98%, modeling that the district will be 98% staffed.
The presentation covered student-count trends used in revenue projections. Brooks explained the district-operated portfolio (excluding charters and BOCES), the colors and projections on the graphs, and that year-end dips in the charts are driven by the district's funded-student-count process. She noted that the business office projects district-operated numbers to remain above what the board budgeted but emphasized that much of any apparent increase is pass-through funding to charters and BOCES.
On the fiscal outlook, Brooks said the combination of the reduced PPR, lower-than-expected ending fund balance and the $9 million planned draw means the district would need roughly 13,187 students to cover current budgeted expenditures without using reserves; the district currently projects about 12,517 students. "It would take us 13,187 students just to cover the expenditures we already have budgeted," she said.
Board members asked technical questions about the projection method; Brooks said the year-end dip is a three-year historical average done by the business office and is not a conservative manual adjustment. Directors raised concerns about reserve levels after recent salary increases and flagged the need to make adjustments in next year's budget to "start living a little more within our means," she said.
The board received the student-count trend and budget update for follow-up and indicated staff will bring more information to future meetings and the midyear budget amendment.
Ending: Staff will incorporate the revised PPR and updated fund-balance projections into the midyear amendment; the board instructed staff to return with further analysis at upcoming meetings.
