Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Budget Finance topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
District financial update: second interim shows deficit spending, falling COLA and enrollment decline
Summary
Assistant Superintendent Kevin Franklin told trustees the second interim budget projects continued deficit spending, a decline in funded COLA and a small enrollment drop; the board approved the second interim report later in the meeting.
The New Haven Unified School District’s second interim budget update reviewed March 3 projected revenues, enrollment and multiyear reserves and warned the district is drawing down reserves at an estimated $6 million to $7 million per year at current spending levels.
Kevin Franklin, assistant superintendent of business services, said the funded cost-of-living adjustment used in state revenue calculations fell to about 2.41% (previously presented near 3.2%), and the three-year revenue projection for 2027–28 was revised downward. The district’s CBEDS-based enrollment figure used for funding is 9,946, a modest decline from last year’s enrollment of more than 10,000 students; funded ADA showed about a one-ADA change.
Franklin emphasized that the district must treat ending balances as one-time funds and that the county typically does not allow one-time governor’s proposals to be treated as ongoing revenue until the May revise and the governor's final action. He noted the district will prepare multiyear projections both with and without potential one-time dollars and must hold a 3% unrestricted reserve as required.
The board voted to approve the 2025–26 second interim report and updated multiyear projections for 2026–27 and 2027–28 later in the meeting. The motion passed on the consent agenda following discussion about bargaining and potential impacts on the budget.
What to watch: bargaining outcomes this spring, the governor’s May revise, actual enrollment trends and whether the district adjusts expenditures to slow the drawdown of reserves. The district said settlement results and the May revise may change budget assumptions in June when the budget is finalized.
