Serving the High Plains
Serving the High Plains
Staff report
Projected drops in total enrollment and in special education enrollment are expected to bring a reduction in revenues for Tucumcari schools for the fiscal year that begins July 1, according to preliminary budget estimates.
Leola Patterson, the school district’s finance director, reported early estimates for the next fiscal year Monday in a budget workshop that preceded the Tucumcari school board’s regular monthly meeting.
In all, she said, school system revenues may be down by 1.9 percent compared to last year’s. That’s about $158,000 lower.
Next year’s revenues could total a little less than $8.3 million, compared with a little more than $8.4 million this year.
The district is expected to accumulate 2,074.5 total program units in the coming fiscal year, compared with 2,114.6 for the current year. The effect of the lower number on revenue is offset by a “unit value” of $4,007.75 per unit for the coming fiscal year, which is $2 per unit higher than the $4005.75 the district received this year under state school funding formulas, Patterson’s report said.
“These are just estimates for now,” she told the board. She has just started working on the budget, she said, and many things could change as the budget process continues.
Overall enrollment in Tucumcari schools is expected to drop to 930 students in the 2015-2016 school year, a revenue worksheet presented Monday said, 32 students lower than the 962 enrolled this year.
The district’s special education enrollment units are also expected to drop from 193.45 to 161.85 units from the current school year to the next, she said.
Some special-education students count as one unit each, while others count as two, depending on reources required to accommodate them, Kathy Fury, special education coordinator, said.
