The Great Falls Public Schools board is holding a town hall, followed by a board budget committee meeting, on Nov. 11 at 5:30 p.m. in the Aspen Room at the district office, 1100 4th St. S.
The budget committee met Oct. 21 to discuss the district’s finances and budget outlook.
With the potential need to send a levy to the May ballot, the committee requested an additional meeting to ensure public participation before making its recommendation to the full school board.
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This year’s budget development schedule is:
- Nov. 11: community town hall/board budget committee meeting
- Dec. 9: board budget committee meeting
- Dec. 10: trustees call for election, candidate filing opens
- Feb. 16: community town hall
- week of March 8: legislator questions and answers, transmittal update
- March 16: board budget committee meeting
- March 22: regular board meeting, review of budget committee recommendation and action if needed
- March 25: last day to determine levy amounts under state law
- May 4: trustee and levy election
Student enrollment is a significant factor in the state’s calculation for base funding for local school districts.
The first student enrollment count was the first Monday in October and the second will be the first Monday in February.
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Those two are averaged to determine the student count for the next school year’s budget.
When enrollment is declining, state law allows for a three-year average for enrollment and the district has the ability to ask voters for additional funding up to the state maximum budget or to maintain the previous year’s budget, according to GFPS.
District officials said that after just one count, it’s difficult ot have an accurate revenue forecast for the upcoming budget year, which starts July 1, 2027 and runs through June 30, 2028.
But after the first count, elementary school student numbers are down, and high school is up by 73 students, which GFPS officials are excited about.
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For the previous four school years, high school enrollment has declined, so GFPS officials are preparing budget projects based on recent trends, but hopeful the increase holds at the second count.
Some of the elementary student decline is also attributed to the 300-plus students who shifted to CORE School at Morningside, which are counted separately but still toward overall district funding, according to Luke Diekhans, district business operations manager.
He said larger classes entered high school in recent years and principals have worked diligently to keep students at school.
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Superintendent Heather Hoyer said they’ve been watching a bubble of middle school students and freshmen and trying to provide opportunities to keep them in school.
In middle school, GFPS has some students part-time for athletics and high school has some homeschoolers for athletics and the Youth Challenge program.
The summer Jumpstart program is also factored into their enrollment numbers, she said.
GFPS has absorbed some students from private schools that have closed in recent years, but she said those numbers don’t account for the large change in high school.
Lance Boyd, assistant superintendent, said they’ve seen a significant decrease in kindergarten enrollment over the last five years.
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The district saw funding spikes from ESSER funds as COVID relief and the Montana Legislature’s STARS Act to increase teacher pay, but those increases don’t continue over time.
For the upcoming budget year, Diekhans said it’s an estimated $700,000 just to roll salaries forward with a 1 percent increase and health insurance increases are projected at 10 percent.
He said the district was facing a deficit and if the February enrollment count comes down, GFPS revenue will also come down, but expenses will remain.
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If the fall enrollment numbers hold, Diekhans is projecting a district budget total of $87,359,078 with the following deficit based on salary increases:
- $126,355 at a one percent increase
- $826,355 at a two percent increase
- $1,526,355 at a three percent increase
All of the district’s collective bargaining contracts are currently open, so they don’t yet know what those increases will be, Diekhans said during the Oct. 21 budget committee meeting.
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If enrollment comes down at the February count and follows previous year trends, those deficits would grow to:
- $353,493 at one percent salary increases
- $1,053,493 at two percent
- $1,753,493 at three percent
Diekhans said those projections include the state’s inflationary factor, but that increase is eaten up with compensation and insurance.
With deficits, Diekhans said that the district may have to look at changes in allocations or consider asking voters to approve a levy.
Under current projections, the district could potentially levy a maximum of:
- $930,057 in the elementary district
- $1,262,385 in the high school district
With a legislative session coming up, district officials said circumstances could change between now and the spring.
Bill Bronson, school board and committee member, said they don’t know if the Legislature will approve basic school funding by the transmittal deadline as it has done in the past, making the district’s budget planning easier.
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If lawmakers pass bills impacting school funding, Bronson said they may not know the impact before their deadline to set a levy.
“We’re probably gonna be constantly looking at these numbers during legislative session,” Bronson said.
Diekhans said no matter the model, “we’re looking at another deficit.”
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To balance the current budget, the district used reserves, he said, but that savings will eventually run out.
The committee discussed the timing of their meetings and required decisions regarding a levy and determined it would be better to have a town hall earlier to give the community more time to participate in the decision-making process.
Kim Skornogoski, school board and budget committee member, said if they make the decision to pursue a levy in the spring, it would be hard to communicate the district’s needs and the complicated funding formulas.
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“The sooner we declare our intentions, the better,” she said. “We’ve seen the writing on the wall for years now.”
Bronson agreed and said that, based on discussions with colleagues statewide, GFPS is in better financial shape than most, “which may not be saying much.”
Diekhans said the district can send a levy to the ballot but then pull it in the spring “if the Legislature were to give us a windfall.”
Paige Henning, school board and budget committee member, said it would be better for the public to know if the district was considering sending a levy to the ballot so they could come to a fall meeting earlier in the process.
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Bronson said a November town hall gives district officials the opportunity to present to the public the stakes and what’s coming up at the Legislature that will influence what happens in GFPS. He said that also puts locals in a better position to talk to their legislators.
The committee also reviewed significant upcoming capital projects and needs.
The Great Falls High fieldhouse and pool need a new roof, an estimated $1.5 million project. Diehkans said the district has been putting some money aside in anticipation of that project.
He said officials are considering whether another elementary school needs a roof replacement this year, which could range from $300,000 to $2.5 million, depending on conditions.
“Once you let these things go, they just compound,” he said.
The East Middle School gym needs an estimated $400,000 in improvements.
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After the Oct. 1 school safety work session, the board asked staff to include estimated costs for fire alarms, ADA door handles and locks.
Diekhans said fire alarm systems for West and Sunnyside elementaries are $450,000 and ADA door handles and locks are an estimated $175,000.
The good news, Diekhans said, was that the door handles and locks were looking less costly than initially estimated, but challenges remain since many doors are old.
