More students help but district still faces challenges

The Grafton School Board last week saw a projection that has the School District’s enrollment increase by 30 students in the state aid formula and a nearly $1 million increase in the revenue limit next year.

The bump, Director of Business Services Topher Adams said, is due to the three-year enrollment average the state uses in determining the revenue limit.

The 2021 district enrollment was 1,963. Next year’s enrollment is expected to be 2,054 students. The growth by 91 students equates to an increase of 30 students in the state formula, from 1,995 to 2,025.

Also, the amount of money the state is allowing districts to spend per student is increasing by $325 for the second straight year, which was approved last year in the state biennial budget.

The increase, which puts per-student spending at $11,557, is about 2.7% more funding per student, Adams said, which doesn’t keep up with inflation but is better than the previous two years that didn’t include an increase.

“The zero dollars that we were receiving also didn’t do a very good job of helping us keep up with inflation,” he said.

Adams presented a chart that showed what happened when per-student revenue failed to keep pace with inflation since 2008-09. Today, per-student revenue lags inflation by $3,380.

Private schools, Adams said, have been receiving more money per student. Increases for voucher high schools are up by $3,342 from last year and voucher K-8 schools by $1,494. Independent charter school increases are up by $2,121 and special needs vouchers by $1,989.

Grafton’s enrollment and revenue increases translate to $995,000 more that can be raised in revenue.

The district’s general fund is expected to increase from this year’s $26.6 million to $27.8 million, but about $200,000 is pass-through money that goes from the state to the district to private schools, Adams said.

More students, Adams said, also means more staff are needed to provide services.

The district is expected to again receive $1.55 million through open enrollment, a program that allows students to attend a district outside of the one in which they live, and again lose $840,500 for a net gain of nearly $715,000.

Adams is projecting a $422,000 budget deficit by the end of the year.

“That was due to the revenue available from the state not keeping up with increasing costs,” he said.

The district, however, has a plan to handle that shortfall. Years ago, the district began planning for the end of the federal government’s Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) funds offered in 2020 and 2021 along with other relief money to help recover from the pandemic.

As a result, the district set aside $2 million for stabilization aid in its fund balance account  — the difference in the district’s assets and liabilities that can essentially be used as a rainy day fund — to handle deficits created when ESSER money dried up.

The district still has $1.4 million in stabilization aid.

The district’s next step in the budget process is to determine its staffing needs and approve a preliminary budget in May or June.