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Kalispell board adopts 2024–25 elementary and high-school budgets after budget shortfall briefing
Summary
After a budget briefing that outlined a roughly $1.2 million FY24 deficit partially covered by ESSER funds and about $1.8 million in new unfunded costs for FY25, the Kalispell Public Schools Board adopted both the 2024–25 elementary and high-school budgets by voice vote and scheduled committee meetings to refine next steps.
The Kalispell Public Schools Board of Trustees voted to adopt the district’s 2024–25 elementary and high-school budgets after a detailed presentation on revenues, one-time federal carryover and expected new costs.
Chris, the district’s finance presenter, told trustees the district closed fiscal year 2024 on June 30 with a combined net deficit of about $1.2 million but used unspent ESSER funds to avoid drawing local reserves. “That ESSER money is done in total, spent out or will be done in the next about 2 weeks or so,” he said, warning the district will lose that near-term flexibility.
Chris outlined roughly $1.8 million in new expenditures next year — including salary projections, health insurance increases and higher property and liability insurance — while pointing to approximately $2.4 million in revenue gains in tuition and other operating funds. He said roughly $700,000 of the high-school revenue increase is charter-school revenue and that rules around that revenue are still being clarified with state authorities.
Board members pressed for clarity about the state’s frequently cited “80%” funding figure. Chris explained that the “80%” refers to a base general-fund guarantee and that other funds (transportation, debt service and certain grants) are funded differently, causing local levy amounts to appear larger when those funds are included. He also described how the county’s guaranteed tax-base and mill distributions change the local/state mix year to year.
Trustee Jen moved to adopt the elementary budget and Trustee Heidi seconded; the board approved the elementary budget by voice vote and the chair declared the motion carried. The board then adopted the high-school budget after a separate presentation on its revenue mix and debt-service impacts. The motions were carried by voice vote; individual roll-call tallies were not recorded in the meeting transcript.
Next steps: trustees scheduled a finance committee meeting for Sept. 6 and noted negotiations and additional committee work are planned in September to clarify bargaining results and budget ramifications.
The board meeting adjourned after approving the budgets and routine consent items.
