by Jim Fredrickson
Chairman, Budget & Property Committee
ConVal School Board
Budget “Guidance”
We’ve all felt the impact of rising costs and we’ve all pulled up to the pump recently and “enjoyed” the lower gas prices now compared to a few months ago. When we develop our budget, we need to acknowledge that costs are going to be higher, but just how high? The fact that the FY24 School year will run from July ’23 through June ’24 makes it more difficult.
Salaries and benefits for District staff account for more than 70% of our costs. District voters approved a three-year contract for teachers, paraprofessionals, and specialized service professionals this past March. FY24 will be the second year of the contract – which establishes the FY24 salary increase for the majority of the District’s employees. This reduces some of the uncertainty associated with estimating the effect of inflation to include in the proposed budget. Several other multi-year contracts in place also help.
The Board recently provided the Superintendent with “guidance” to be used to develop the initial FY24 budget: maintain the status quo. In other words, do not include any significant new programs but do include planned upgrades to technology, curriculum, etc.
Annual School Board Budget Meeting
The annual School Board Budget meeting will be held on Saturday November 5th at the District offices. The Superintendent and staff presented will present the initial proposed budget. This will be an informative meeting – decisions on specific aspects of the budget will be discussed and voted on at regularly scheduled Board meetings. You will have several opportunities to review, discuss, and eventually approve it. We encourage and welcome your participation.
Stay tuned for our next article in this series – it will discuss how the FY23 school budget affects your property tax bill.