Garfield Re-2 School District Approves 2023-24 Budget

The Garfield School District No. Re-2  Board of Education approved the 2023-24 budget on June 28 with a total budget appropriation of just over $92 million. Of the district’s six (6) funds, the General Fund and the Capital Projects Fund are the two largest funds with appropriations of $65 million and $14 million, respectively.

The General Fund accounts for almost all school operations and support functions of the district. Nearly 80% of the General Fund is salaries and benefits for Garfield Re-2 staff.  One of the most significant celebrations in the approved 2023-24 budget is the progress toward a balanced budget in the general fund. The District dramatically cut its deficit spending in half, saving approximately $1.8 million dollars for 2022-23. For the 2023-24 school year, Garfield Re-2 is projecting just $392,412 in deficit spending, representing a nearly balanced budget.

In addition, Garfield Re-2 is projected to see a 5.9%  increase in total program funding from the 2022-23 budget fueled primarily by a $2.6 million increase in the State’s School Finance Act. The Designated Purpose or Grants Fund was increased by $400,000 due to the significant number of grants the District has received and continues to write to support our students and staff.

“We are committed to being good stewards of the tax dollars that citizens trust us with,” explained Superintendent Heather Grumley. “Our goal is to achieve a balanced budget and we are on track to accomplish that. We are grateful to the Colorado Legislature for nearly eliminating the Budget Stabilization factor, although there continues to be a gap between what the state is obligated to provide our schools, and what is approved. Garfield Re-2 will continue to provide the most comprehensive array of opportunities available to our students and staff while finding creative means to support a high-quality education for our students.”

Garfield Re-2 is expected to see a 3.8% increase in expenditures over last year’s budget, due mostly to the two percent (2%) raise and increased insurance premiums approved by the school board earlier this year. 

Approximately 86% or $55.7 million of the District’s revenue comes through the Colorado School Finance Act.  Currently, local property taxes make up about 33% of this portion, while the state backfills the remaining 67%.  Due to a decades-long misinterpretation of tax laws, the Colorado legislature passed a law (House Bill 21-1164) requiring school districts that did not have a balance between the local and the state portions to increase their local mill levy until local participation began to match State participation.

The legislation created a gradual correction plan for affected districts, allowing them to increase their local property tax collections by a small amount every year until this balance is achieved. A total of 127 of the state’s 178 school districts were impacted by this taxation correction. 

Garfield Re-2 is in the third year of this process, and is required to increase the local mill levy by one (1) mill every year until it reaches the State determined corrected mill levy of 16.282. These are NOT additional funds that will come to Garfield Re-2. They are a correction to adjust the local share of Total Program funding for education to the amount that is legally required by state statutes and the State Constitution.

The process to create a budget for approval in June begins almost immediately with quarterly budget reporting to the school board that begins in the fall. In December, another financial review with the school board will occur with the strategic budgeting process beginning in January including meetings with Collaborative Solutions (Garfield Re-2’s interest-based negotiation team), District Accountability, building principals and administrators, and other interested parties.

This year, Collaborative Solutions, a committee of teachers, administrators, and classified staff, received budget information during their deliberative processes and recommended to the school board a 2.0% salary increase in accordance with the Garfield Re-2 salary schedules.

This will be a much-deserved cost-of-living increase for staff, however, it still leaves Garfield Re-2 struggling to be competitive with our surrounding school districts in the area of teacher/staff pay.