After scrapping a controversial tax hike, the district convened a 31-person workgroup to sift through other solutions. The group's top recommendation: Draw down funds from the school system's contingency fund, which is normally set 4% higher than is required by the state.
But documents obtained by WKYT show that the fund projected at close to $42 million could come in much lower according to internal calculations. The new numbers are between $15 million to $22 million, meaning the workgroup's preferred solution would no longer be viable.
As CivicLex's Adrian Bryant explains, pulling from the contingency fund isn't like making a simple withdrawal.
"The contingency fund is not quite like a savings account that you or I or anyone else may have, where there's just a pot of money sitting there that you can just write a check from," he said Monday. "It is like a fund that accrues over time based on how the school district collects their revenue over the course of a year."
The new information will throw a wrench into the school board's discussion of the new budget recommendations, which is set to take place Monday night.