Budget Cut Plan

Based on the State’s latest revenue forecast of March 19, 2012 and the Joint Budget Committee finalizing its figure-setting for K-12 education, Adams 12 Five Star Schools has revised its budget cut range for the 2012-2013 school year. The district anticipates needing to cut about $12 million. This lower amount is due to more positive news in terms of state revenue growth.

While the state’s per pupil revenue (PPR) for school districts is expected to be about the same as it was last year, there are a number of other factors continuing to negatively affect the Adams 12 budget. Last year, the district saw decreased enrollment and increased costs of instructional programming, healthcare, and the state’s retirement plan. Also, over the past few years, the district has sometimes used one-time funds to balance the budget. While those funds help meet budget constraints each year, the district must continue to find a long-term solution.

Guiding Philosophy to Making Cuts

• Staff, parents and community members provided their budget values and priorities during a multi-step public engagement process. District leadership considered the input of more than 4,250 people who participated in the budget survey, and about 100 people who participated in two dialogue sessions in February.

• Through proposed reductions in compensation, this plan minimizes further job loss. Previous budget cuts (2010-2011 and 2011-2012) involved more job losses and fewer reductions in employee compensation.

• Our educators and parents place high priority on class size as an integral part of delivering high quality instruction, and to the extent possible, this plan minimizes impact on class sizes

Employee Cuts

• The net number of positions eliminated for 2012-2013 is about 60 FTE

• Breakdown by employee group:

Certified (teachers): 51.40 FTE (2.5 percent cut, current FTE is about 2,024             Administrative/Technical: 4.33 FTE (2.1 percent cut, current FTE is about 203)
Classified (support staff): 4.82 FTE (0.5 percent cut, current FTE is about 999

• Administrative/Technical group saw the largest percentage cut in the two previous budget cycles (2010-2011 and 2011-2012)

• Number of positions cut is far less than previous two budget cycles (2010-2011 and 2011-2012), when more than 150 FTE were part of the budget cut plans for each of those years

• Normal attrition is expected to account for the reduction in teaching positions

Employee Contributions

The plan calls for about a 3 percent reduction in compensation for employees, or about $6.8 million, through such options as furlough days and an increased contribution to the retirement system for employees (PERA). Specifics related to employee contributions will be determined through negotiations.

Education is a people-intensive business with 87 percent of the General Fund budget going towards salaries and benefits:

• The previous two budget cut plans (2010-2011 and 2011-2012) involved more reductions in staffing numbers (FTE) than reductions in compensation
• This plan calls for more reductions in compensation than in staffing numbers (FTE)

Fees

• Staff, parents and community members expressed support for increasing the district’s athletic participation fee. It will go from $115 to $130 per sport for the first two sports, and the reduced rate will go from $57.50 to $65.

Programming Impacts

Staff, parents and community members placed a high priority on class size – particularly at the lower grade levels:

• Some elementary schools with lower student enrollment that have traditionally had class sizes below the district average will see an increase in class size. (Note: Normal year-to-year enrollment fluctuations at each school can also impact class size.)
• Possible higher class sizes in secondary core content areas
• At the middle and high school levels, some electives will see higher class sizes while other same subject electives with fewer students may be combined or potentially not offered for the 2012-2013 school year based upon student requests

Staff, parents and community members indicated support for eliminating after-school clubs and activities with low participation:

• The plan calls for a 10 percent reduction to co-curricular funding (subject to negotiations) to eliminate offerings with low participation at the elementary, middle and high school levels
• The reduction would not impact high participation clubs and activities such as drama, band and choir clubs

The plan reduces costs at the district’s alternative middle school through transitioning to a blended learning model (online and classroom learning) and sharing resources with the district’s alternative high school.

Other Considerations

Many who participated in the public engagement process for the budget suggested the district look at eliminating Early Release Days (used for professional development) as a cost savings measure.

• The district will engage in a more extensive analysis of pros/cons and costs/benefits of our current ERD system beginning in Fall 2012. The effort will include input from principals, teachers, parents and other stakeholders.

To view the budget plan cut plan for 2012-2013, click here.