The details
Sibley outlined several of the differences between the original budget versus the revised budget. The key takeaways are as follows:
- $46.29 million: decrease in maintenance and operations tax revenue due to a decrease in property taxes
- $2 million: increase in local revenue due to the technology recycling program
- $1.06 million: increase in e-rate funds from the federal government, which were not part of the initial budget
- $33.92 million: decrease in the district’s recapture payment
How we got here
Sibley pointed out that when he and his team presented the original FY 2023-24 budget in June, it was a balanced budget.
“School district budgets are very fluid, especially when it comes to the revenue pieces, and we have to make a lot of assumptions,” Sibley said. “Unfortunately, sometimes we don’t know the results of those assumptions until the end of the fiscal year.”
Sibley added that some of the “unrealized assumptions” were actions the state Legislature took after the initial budget was presented, which include:
- Homestead exemption increase, which reduced property values by $1 billion
- Over age 65 tax relief, which further reduced property values by $766 million
- School resource officer program changes, which Sibley called an “underfunded mandate” that cost the district an additional $787,000
- The average daily attendance, which the state uses to provide funding for school districts and had a $3.3 million shortfall
Next steps
Sibley said there were some items on the horizon that could help reduce the shortfall for FY 2023-24. These items include:
- An increase is average daily attendance over the past six weeks
- Results from a protest the district has submitted to the state comptroller’s office over property values, which could see a significant decrease in the district’s recapture payment.
- Increase in Title 1 allotment
- Looking for additional decreases in expenditures
