Centennial School District budget committee approves $162.6 million 2024–25 budget, tax rate and bond levy

The Centennial School District budget committee approved the district’s amended 2024–25 budget on May 22, voting to forward a $162,602,741 all-funds budget to the board for adoption. The plan includes a $96,874,660 general fund, other funds totaling $65,728,081, a proposed permanent general-fund tax rate of 4.7448 per $1,000 assessed value, and a bonded general-obligation debt levy of $4,076,474.

The adopted committee motion followed a business-office presentation from Paul, who outlined five changes between the proposed and final drafts: three nonfinancial corrections and two financial adjustments. Nonfinancial fixes included an updated school-summary text, correction of a calendar typo (05/24/2023 → 05/24/2024) and adding a copy of the advertisement to the affidavit of publication. Financial changes included a 0.25 full‑time‑equivalent allocation for additional grant-writing support (two hours per day) and updates to the current year to reflect significant winter-storm repairs and related insurance recoveries.

Paul said the 0.25 FTE for grant writing is budgeted at an estimated first-year payroll-and-benefits cost of $24,330 and was offset by a reduction in the district’s new fund balance (from $15,444,100 to $15,419,770). Committee members emphasized that the fractional grant-writing allocation preserves flexibility to hire quickly if the board later approves a full-time position, but they also said they want more analysis of costs and expected return on investment before expanding the role.

Directors pressed staff on a roughly $1,000,000 increase in purchased services (about 12% of that line). Paul and Director Denise Wright attributed most of the increase to out-of-district placements for students with complex special-education needs, higher wages negotiated by partner providers and increased substitute costs. Wright and Paul said the district has seen several students move into Centennial from other areas and that state reimbursement caps for high-cost disabilities (about 50% currently) constrain available funding.

The committee opened the public testimony period and received no comments. A motion was made and seconded to approve the amended budget, tax rate and levy; the committee approved the motion by voice vote.

The committee’s approval moves the amended 2024–25 budget to the full board for its June-level consideration and adoption. The budget packet presented additional supporting detail and a schedule that staff said will be shared with the board and community as the district completes the adoption process.

The budget committee meeting adjourned at 6:32 p.m.; the board then convened a work session whose business included bus purchases and policy updates.