With the board having shelved an unpopular tax increase option, the top suggestions by their budget workgroup would pull most or all of the $16 million from the district's contingency fund — which it keeps at higher levels than required by the state.
Inching the fund down 2%, as recommended, would yield $14 million. But as CivicLex's Adrian Bryant notes, the contingency fund isn't just a piggy bank that's always full.
"It's not like August 15 hits, the school year starts, and boom, there's $16 million that the district can run a check out of. That's going to build over time," he says. "So you can fill a deficit that way, but it's not quite as clean-cut as it may sound as a recommendation."
Another favored option by the workgroup involves freezing any spending that is not contractually obligated. But again...
"It's really unclear what is not contractually obligated," Bryant adds. "Some schools may have entered into agreements with companies to do maintenance on the building. Other schools may not have. There are all kinds of different projects that the school board has budgeted for that may be very important, but may not be contractually obligated right now. These are just the types of details (that) weren't really discussed in the budget workgroup."
The superintendent's office will present the recommendations to the school board on August 18, with the board considering the top choices, a combination of them, or opting to go another way entirely.