Kalispell Public Schools' budgets released for 2017-18 year

There will be some belt-tightening in Kalispell Public Schools’ budget for the 2017-18 school year as plans are made to tap into reserves to cover expenses and plan a future that will likely include requesting a levy next spring to cover expenditures when the new south elementary opens.

Flathead County’s largest school district will operate on a total of $138,742,300. That amount encompasses budgeted and cash funds in the elementary and high school districts. That amount also includes $54 million in bond proceeds for current construction projects.

On Aug. 8, the school district board of trustees approved budgeted funds for the elementary and high school districts.

The elementary district will operate on budgeted funds totaling $31,567,247 with $2,375,892 in reserves. The high school district’s budgeted funds add up to $31,750,677 with about $2,852,615 in reserves.

Compared to the previous school year, budgeted funds have increased. The elementary district budget increased by approximately 8.7 percent, or $2,524,047. The high school budget increased by roughly 9.8 percent, or $2,833,836.

The largest budgeted fund is the general fund, which is up from last year because it’s driven by enrollment, which is tied to state dollars. Most of general fund expenditures, roughly 90 percent, goes toward staff salaries and benefits.

The sources of revenue for budgeted funds primarily come in the form of state funding and taxpayer money.

The state Legislature has cut school funding over the biennium as a result of overestimated state revenue projections. Kalispell Public Schools may see a reduction of more than $291,221 from the state for 2017-18 school year as a result of Senate Bill 261. A similar decrease is anticipated for the 2018-19 school year. This means the school district will have to underspend its budget authority because the revenue won’t be available, according to Gwyn Andersen, district clerk for Kalispell Public Schools.

A BUDGET subcommittee was assembled and spent more than 12 hours combing through line items to find places to reduce spending or make spending more efficient in preparing for the next couple of years as one-time funds are spent, they will likely not be replenished to current levels.

“We were looking for places to save money that won’t impact instruction,” Andersen said.

Staff reductions were made by mainly not filling vacant positions. A district outreach coordinator position that was created in 2011 to serve a public relations role in addition to director of the Kalispell Education Foundation, however, was eliminated.

Position vacancies that weren’t filled included an accounts payable position in the business office and three elementary teaching positions, based on enrollment numbers.

The staffing reductions will save the district about $220,000, according to Andersen.

The committee outlined other minor adjustments to curb costs, such as limiting overtime, updating mileage rates, increasing athletic event gate entry and pass prices by between $1 up to $10, respectively, and discontinuing serving meals at board meetings, among other items.

“Little things add up and this is a lot of little things,” Andersen said.

BOTH BUDGETS also contain cash funds, which are not directly generated by taxpayer money. Bond proceeds that haven’t yet been spent amounting to $53 million are also held in these cash funds.

On the elementary side, there is $37.9 million in cash funds related to things such as the district’s self-funded health insurance, student activities and miscellaneous programs.

The high school district contains $37.5 million in cash funds, including the district’s food service, traffic education, student activities and endowment funds, among others. One of the cash funds is an interlocal agreement fund containing $2.4 million, which is a combination of elementary and high school district money accumulated over the past five years from year-end funds.

Interlocal funds may be spent for any purpose with board action in either the high school or elementary district. For example, the district used some of the interlocal money to purchase land for the new elementary school site on Airport Road in the 2014-15 school year. It has also gone toward curriculum adoption and technology at the high school.

This spring a $725,000 loan was floated to the district’s self-funded insurance program using interlocal money to cover a deficit. The deficit resulted in underestimated cost projections to cover claims, premium prices and how the insurance plan was managed. The loan is expected to be paid back over time. Changes have also been made to the plan as far as management and working toward building reserves.

On the horizon are new operational expenses when the south elementary on Airport Road opens in 2018. The majority of enrollment at the new elementary will be from absorbing existing students from overcrowded buildings throughout the district, which means there won’t be many new students or state funding, but there will be new operational expenses such as utilities.

The first year of operating the new elementary school may cost between $600,000 and $800,000, Andersen estimated.

“And those costs will be ongoing,” Andersen said.

Reporter Hilary Matheson may be reached at 758-4431 or hmatheson@dailyinterlake.com.