The Montezuma-Cortez School District announced Tuesday it could slash more than $240,000 in instructional position salary and benefits next year, resulting in the cancellation of multiple teacher contracts.<\/p>\n
In open session Tuesday, April 15, board member Brian Demby delivered the news by reading an emergency declaration revealing a \u201creduction in staff\u201d would be required to ease fund balance declines. Superintendent Alex Carter was also directed to present his recommendations for canceling employee contracts within 20 days.<\/p>\n
Currently, the district\u2019s total revenue projection for 2014-2015 is $18.3 million, some $2 million short because of reduced funding by the state, Carter said. Although the current legislative session ends May 7, Carter told board members they can\u2019t rely on the state for increased funding.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have to make plans for the worst-case scenario, since that seems to be what happens a good deal of the time,\u201d Carter wrote in his budget assessment.<\/p>\n
Officials are hopeful state legislators add to revenue projections by approving both the Student Success Act and School Finance Act. If both were passed as written, the Colorado Department of Education estimates the district would receive $6,731 in per-student funding next year, a rough $400 per-student increase over current levels, or $915,000 in total additional revenues.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re nowhere near where we should be,\u201d Carter said. \u201cEven with $1 million more from the state, we\u2019re still not making improvements for our students.\u201d<\/p>\n
The district has cut funding before. Less art education and fewer school counselors were on the chopping blocks in previous years, and Carter warned officials Tuesday that further cutbacks to \u201cstrategically eliminate failed programs\u201d could continue next year in order to meet budget demands.<\/p>\n
\u201cSome of the things we\u2019ve cut were good, like cleaning out your garage\u201d Carter said, \u201cbut some of them weren\u2019t good for kids.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cTo have everybody reduce their budget by three percent is just not smart,\u201d he added. \u201cIt\u2019s really a weak response, and we just can\u2019t do that anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n
Carter emphasized future funding reductions would target a \u201ccouple\u201d of ineffective student programs, but indicated they\u2019d neither be \u201cbrutal\u201d nor \u201cbloody.\u201d<\/p>\n
Board members get their first peek at next year\u2019s total preliminary budget on March 29.<\/p>\n
To allow him time to properly notify faculty, Carter asked the Cortez Journal to embargo the emergency declaration news until April 20. Because the board meeting was open to the public, the Journal considers discussions made during the meeting to be public knowledge. The Journal informed Carter on Wednesday that it would not withhold the information from its Friday editions. No objections were received.<\/p>\n
Carter also presented board members with his own preliminary budget assessment for fiscal year 2014-2015, which included more than $1 million total in proposed spending increases.<\/p>\n
Carter\u2019s report revealed \u201cbottom line\u201d added expenses would be required to continue funding the district\u2019s tradition of step increases for employee wages and the free full-day kindergarten program, at a cost of $236,000 and $140,000, respectively. Carter also proposed an additional $150,000 increase to employee health contributions, raising the district\u2019s contribution from $463 to $525 per month.<\/p>\n
Board members were also reminded the Children\u2019s Kiva Montessori Charter School would divert $200,000 from next year\u2019s district budget.<\/p>\n
Other considerations raised by Carter included an extra $15,000 needed for workmen\u2019s compensation coverage, and continued skyrocketing utility cost. Half of next year\u2019s $50,000 utility bills are proposed to pay for recent Cortez Sanitation District rate hikes alone.<\/p>\n
\u201cUtilities have gone through the roof,\u201d Carter said.<\/p>\n
This year, the district subsidized its self-insurance program by $450,000 via a general operating reserve.<\/p>\n
Carter emphasized the practice was not sustainable, despite \u201csome decreased cost.\u201d A budget committee is being formed to examine how to eliminate the subsidy, he added.<\/p>\n
Before approving the statement of exigency, board members voted to meet behind closed doors, despite an objection by the Journal to keep the meeting open to the public.<\/p>\n
After the 10-minute executive session, Carter explained he didn\u2019t want to surprise officials with a legal document pertaining to the public financial discussion.<\/p>\n
tbaker@cortezjournal.com<\/a><\/p>\n In an email scheduled for delivery to faculty on Friday, Montezuma-Cortez School Superintendent Alex Carter said the district faces a near $2.5 million budget shortfall next year as costs of operation continue to rise. for $240,000 cut as precautionary measure<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5736,5735],"tags":[1724,13,216,762],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-120750","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local-news","category-news","tag-budgets-and-budgeting","tag-frontpage-lead","tag-montezuma-cortez-school-district-re-1","tag-teachers"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120750","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=120750"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120750\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=120750"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=120750"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=120750"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=120750"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Carter email to faculty<\/h4>\n
\n For five straight years, Carter said the district has balanced the budget by supplementing state per-pupil funding with an annual transfer of funds from district reserves.
\n \u201cWe\u2019ve done this for so long that our reserves can no longer support this practice,\u201d Carter penned in the email.
\n Carter added without increased funding from the state, the district\u2019s budget would be greatly overextended. He asked school board members this week to initiate a reduction in force (RIF) process as a precautionary measure.
\n \u201cDuring Tuesday\u2019s meeting, the board approved a \u201cStatement of Fiscal Exigency\u201d explaining why RIFs might be considered,\u201d Carter stated. \u201cI know this makes people nervous, and I hated having to recommend it to the board, but we have to play it safe to ensure the financial solvency of the district.\u201d
\n Carter further relayed to faculty that should the district actually have to employ the practice, it would only be done carefully. He said any decisions would consider everything possible to protect students and employees.
\n tbaker@cortezjournal.com<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"