The Great Falls Public Schools board budget committee met July 24 to discuss the upcoming budget, future financials, and the the feasibility of adding baseball as a high school sport.

Brian Patrick, GFPS’ business operations manager, told the committee that the budget for the current fiscal year, which began July 1, has a projected $2.6 million shortfall but the district was able to carry over some federal COVID relief funds to offset that deficit.

Over the last decade, expenses have continued to increase, in part due to inflation and raises for teachers to address recruitment and retention, but revenues have not kept pace under Montana’s current public school funding formula, Patrick said.

For the 2025-2026 budget year, Patrick is projecting a $3 million shortfall.

The district is also scheduled to update its math curriculum in the upcoming budget year at an estimated $1.5 million and the science curriculum is scheduled to be updated in the 2026-2027 budget year at an estimated $2 million.

Patrick said that staff plans for those expenses to budget accordingly rather than being surprised.

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In March, the GFPS board voted unanimously to forgo a levy this year and also restructure the district administration to cut an assistant superintendent position in an effort to begin cutting costs knowing the budget challenges on the horizon.

In a worksheet for the committee to review estimated shortfalls and known major expenses, Patrick included ideas of options to lower the deficits that include permanent budget cuts, analyzing vacant positions and planning for levies.

Since Heather Hoyer was selected as the new superintendent, effective July 1, she and the other assistant superintendents restructured their tasks and eliminated the position Hoyer formerly held, saving about $162,686.

Patrick said he’s working to have the board budget committee look at the big picture for the strategic plan rather than just the next budget year.

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He said the goal is to fund the district with existing general fund dollars and reserves, but if the Legislature doesn’t change the public school funding system, “we will have our backs up against a wall.”

Patrick told the committee that if they intend to pursue levies to address funding shortages in the coming years, they need to plan ahead and start building plans for that and communicating with the community early.

Patrick said that all the AA schools in Montana are feeling the pinch of the state’s school funding formula and will likely be putting more collective pressure on lawmakers in the upcoming session to make changes.

Mark Finnicum, committee chair, said he didn’t want to tell himself that help is coming from Helena.

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Bill Bronson, committee member, said that in representing the Great Falls Public Library in their discussions over management with the city, he’s seeing the needs of local government and the nervousness of officials as they know the taxpayers ability to absorb increased taxes is running out.

He said the Legislature will need to look at funding structures for local government in general.

The GFPS budget is also being affected by significant tax protests.

For the upcoming budget, $1,230,681.55 of the district’s tax revenue is under protest.

Of that, only about $20,000 is not Calumet’s protest, Patrick said.

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For municipalities, protested taxes are held in a different account and local governments can’t access those funds.

For school districts, GFPS can request permission from the County Commission to access those funds.

State law allows school districts to access protested tax funds and if the settlement requires some to be paid back to the appealing taxpayer, the law provides a mechanism for a permissive levy to recoup those funds.

GFPS and the county went through that process in 2020, also due to a Calumet tax appeal.

The committee also discussed the request to add high school baseball to the district’s athletic program.

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Finnicum said he’d spoken with some in the local baseball community, including those who had spoken of favor of adding the sport to the high school lineup and who had said they would help raise private funds to support the program.

Finnicum said he’d been told by those community members that the private fundraising wouldn’t be a problem to pay for the first few years of high school baseball, an idea modeled after Billings and Missoula.

But, “I have not seen it yet,” he said.

The district is also working with the Great Falls  Public Schools Foundation to determine if the privately raised funds can be held by the foundation.

The district has until September to make a decision if it intends to offer high school baseball in the spring.

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Mike Henneberg told the school board in June the estimated annual cost is $40,000 to $50,000 per high school, totaling an additional $90,000 to $100,000 in the athletic budget.

Currently, athletics makes up 2.15 percent of the GFPS general fund budget, equating to $1,675,090, the majority of which is coaching salaries and travel, Patrick told the board in June.

Henneberg said he’s using softball numbers to estimate program costs for baseball, but the sports are “highly variable year to year,” depending on the number of students, how far they make it in state tournaments and travel costs are increasing.

Bronson said he wanted reasonable assurances there was enough funding available to start a new athletic program.

The district also has to consider transportation availability and costs, weather issues and legal issues, administrators said.

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Hoyer said the district has to comply with the federal Title 9 rules and Ridgeway Settlement Agreement from a 1980s federal lawsuit filed against the Montana High School Association regarding gender equity in sports.

Henneberg said they could be in violation of the Ridgeway rules since the district has one more opportunity in female sports since adding wrestling, but it balances out under Title 9 due to proportionality with more boys in sports than girls.

He said there’s some concern over Title 9 rules if they add baseball, since they’re looking at adding 25-30 additional athletes at each high school and he’s not sure what that impact would be on proportionality.

Bronson asked staff to get a memo on the legal issues from the district’s legal counsel.

Hoyer said the equity rules also apply to facilities and transportation in sports.

Henneberg said that had been relatively easy to balance so far since it’s been apples to apples in sports like soccer, that trade practice times on the same fields and when boys are away, girls play at home, and vice versa.

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For baseball, facilities are a concern if the district were to use Centene Stadium, as has been suggested by community members, which is a superior facility to the city’s Multi Sports facility GFPS uses for softball.

Hoyer suggested taking Centene off the table and looking at other available facilities in the community that are comparable to Multi Sports.

She said she knew many people had visions of high school baseball at Centene, but didn’t think they’d be able to overcome the fairness aspect of that arrangement.

Hoyer said that Henneberg brought a reduction in post season sports events to the board that was a collective decision made amongst AA schools who are all struggling to make budget reductions.

She said she knows there’s a rumor in the community that the district made that move to accommodate baseball, but “that’s just not true.”

Henneberg said athletic directors worked together to make that decision to protect their conference.

Gordon Johnson who is not a committee member but is chair of the school board, said adding baseball is a “complex question of whether or not it’s feasible.”

Henneberg said it’s also a question of what comes next after the decision on baseball, such as moves across the state to add girls flag football or other sports.

Hoyer said school districts were also working on developing board policy language regarding emerging sports.

The school board will review the proposed budget for approval in August.