Chief Financial Officer Dennis Covington said this was due to a variety of factors, including higher than anticipated expenses and reduced revenues.
What you need to know
A reduction in federal reimbursement for special education services, reduced property values, higher program costs and more employees qualifying for stipends than anticipated are just a few of several factors that caused the district's budget deficit to increase by about $18 million for the 2023-24 fiscal year, Covington said in a Nov. 21 board meeting.
"A good thing, but not good for your budget—we had more teachers complete the reading academy, so they earned the stipends," Covington said.
What they're saying
Board Secretary and Place 3 trustee Amber Landrum said she was concerned that trustees were only hearing about the larger shortfall after the school year has ended, although she described the additional expenses as necessary to district operations.
"I don't have a problem with any of this, but I do have a problem that we didn't find out about it until our audit," Landrum said.
To help keep the public and board members updated on the status of the budget, Superintendent Hafedh Azaiez said administrators will provide more frequent budget updates in the future.
The details
Covington said the district's revenue for the 2023-24 budget year was $7.4 million lower than expected, with reductions spread over three areas:
- $600,000 reduction in current year property tax collections
- $300,000 reduction in prior year property tax collections
- $6.5 million in lost reimbursement from special education funding
- $2 million in underestimated salary increases required after passage of the 2023 voter-approved tax rate election
- $3.9 million in special education stipends, services and settlements as more teachers qualified for stipends
- $700,000 more in stipends for teachers completing the district's reading academy
- $500,000 more in stipends for math and bilingual educators
- $1.5 million more for guest educators, also known as substitute teachers, due to increased demand
- $500,000 to fund students in athletics, fine arts as well as career and technology education program who qualified for higher levels of competition
- $600,000 for higher than planned retiree payout
- $300,000 for higher insurance deductibles
What's next?
The board will firm up a schedule to receive budget updates from administration in December. Azaiez suggested that updates might be brought to the board as frequently as every other month.
