State likely to cut payment to military-heavy districts

Fountain-Fort Carson School District 8 must cut $1 million from this year's budget because the state is expected to suspend a supplemental payment made to districts where military dependents move in throughout the year.

That cut would be part of $45 million in trims to public education under proposals set forth Friday by Gov. Bill Ritter. He also proposed a $34.5 million cut in full-day kindergarten construction; $4.9 million in charter school construction; $1 million in alternative teacher compensation plan grants; and $973,000 in a summer school grant program.

The military dependent supplemental payments would be cut by $1.8 million and would likely hit D-8 the hardest because of its large military population. It expected to get more than half of the $1.8 million budgeted by the state, said Dave Roudebush, assistant superintendent for academic support services.

"We built that ($1 million) into the budget so we're going to have to see where we can cut between now and the end of the year and adopt an amended budget," he said.

Last year, Widefield School District 3 got $178,000 from the military supplemental count, said spokesman James Drew.

Pikes Peak region districts will take some other smaller hits if the recommendations made Friday to the Legislature's Joint Budget Committee are enacted. Several districts expected to get state grants to construct facilities for all-day kindergarten.

Widefield was hoping to recoup $750,000 it spent on modular buildings for its kindergarten classes, Drew said. Not getting that money means the district will have to eliminate some other projects, he said.

Academy School District 20 had been approved for a $200,000 grant, and Cheyenne Mountain School District 12 for about $100,000, officials said.

School districts were only slightly relieved that the cuts recommended on Friday weren't as severe as anticipated because state education officials warned that funding for next year likely will be slashed to the lowest levels allowed under state law.

"There's always wrangling at the Capitol over who gets what part of the pot," said Walt Cooper, superintendent at Cheyenne Mountain. "But the rules have changed significantly. This year it's about that the pot is empty."

Public schools are protected, to an extent, because of funding requirements in the state constitution. But supplemental funding to kick-start programs such as all-day kindergarten and to assist struggling districts are expected to go away.

For example, the state this year paid all districts an extra $19.72 for every pupil. In Friday's recommendations, that money was separated from the rest of the per pupil allotment because it is likely to be eliminated next year, said Robert Hammond, deputy commissioner for the Colorado Department of Education.

In coming up with budget cuts, Hammond said the department worked to limit impact on districts and avoid cutting money already allocated. It recommended cutting some department positions that are geared to helping districts address the achievement gap and school finance issues.

But for next year's budget, the department is facing $329 million in cuts, he said. "That will impact districts," Hammond said. "For next year, everything's on the table."

That's some big money in the Pikes Peak region. The additional per-pupil spending this year brought $600,000 to Colorado Springs School District 11, $400,000 to D-20 and $180,000 to Ellicott School District 22. D-11 got another $2 million under a formula to assist districts with declining enrollment.

There's a lot of uncertainty about where the cuts will occur in the 2009-10 budget, which will be presented next week, but area school officials said they expect them to be deep.

"It's a wait and see situation right now," said Glenn Gustafson, deputy superintendent and chief of finances for D-11. "But everybody needs to be thinking and planning that things are going to be tight for at least two years.

"People should not be sitting on their hands."

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Contact the Writer: 636-0251 or sue.mcmillin@gazette.com