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Steamboat Springs School District projects 2,317 students for FY27, warns of grant expirations and staffing pressures
Summary
Director of Finance and Operations Stephanie Juno told the board the district projects 2,317 K'12 students next year (70 fewer than this year) and flagged expiring grants and rising costs, which may require program and staffing adjustments. Public commenters pressed the board for transparency on reserves and counseling positions at Sleeping Giant School.
Stephanie Juno, the district's director of finance and operations, presented the fiscal year 2027 budget guiding principles and timeline at the March 16 meeting, outlining enrollment and revenue forecasts and items that will affect next year's budget.
Juno said the district currently projects 2,317 K'12 students for 2026-27, including North Routt Community Charter School, which is 70 fewer than the current year and part of a multi-year declining trend. "We're currently projecting 2,317 students K-twelve next year," Juno said, adding that longer-term projections continue to decline primarily at the elementary level.
She told the board the state is moving to a three-year averaging in the finance formula with a 30% phase-in and that the March state revenue forecast and the Education Fund Board's April 1 budget will be important inputs. Juno also flagged several expiring grants that support staffing: the literacy grants, school health professionals, and the school core counselor grant. Those funding losses are not yet fully replaced and create uncertainty in staffing decisions.
District staff and speakers described earlier shifts in grant-funded roles: district coaching positions decreased from five to two after some grants sunset, and schools are reviewing options to maintain program coverage. The superintendent and board discussed Sleeping Giant School's counselor position: public commenter JC Rock, the school's SAC chair, said the counselor role should not have been on the cuts list and urged transparency on reserves and debt-paydown modeling.
"We wanna understand that a little bit more because I think we all wanna prioritize student-facing roles," JC Rock said during public comment. Dr. Wicks responded the counseling position had been addressed and that the district had arranged coverage.
Other pressure points Juno cited included rising health insurance and utility costs and upcoming compensation negotiations with SSEA. January 2026 sales tax receipts were reported down 5.2% from January 2025; the Education Fund provides about 10% of district operations, so that decline will be monitored.
Juno said the district will continue to develop priorities over the next two months and produce a first draft of the FY27 budget for the board on May 18. Board members asked for further detail on reserves and the possibility of presenting reserves information to the public.
The board later moved to acknowledge receipt of the reports and communications presented by the superintendent and staff.
