The Archuleta School District Board of Education (BOE) heard an update from Finance Director Eric Burt during its regular meeting on Tuesday, March 11, in regard to the state’s anticipated $1 billion shortfall and the new School Finance Act (SFA) that was passed last spring and scheduled to take effect in July.
Burt noted that the district is closely following the matter at the state level, noting there’s been a lot of speculation on how the state intends to cover the $1 billion shortfall, with a revenue forecast to be released sometime next week by the state.
According to Burt’s update attached in the meeting’s agenda, the new SFA “is already facing possible changes before it is even enacted, and triggers in the law may stop it from being implemented altogether.”
ASD Superintendent Rick Holt mentioned that last year many teachers across the state and from ASD “lobbied really hard to get rid of the [budget stabilization] factor.”
He explained that with the elimination of the budget stabilization factor, that means the district did not have to write a check to the state for funds received.
“That tool is no longer in place,” he said, explaining that the governor and others are “manipulating the formula to effectively get money back,” rather than enacting a formula they said they would last year.
“They’re now manipulating factors within the formula so they don’t have to give schools the money that they should be giving them,” Holt added, explaining that, effectively, a new budget stabilization factor would be put in place without a name, “but in practice.”
He indicated that the state is forecasting to recover approximately $191 million from education funds.
“We’re very attuned to that,” he said, noting that he and Burt are crafting letters to send to legislators objecting to that practice, “and demand that they look somewhere else ... other than K-12 education to balance their budget.”
Burt’s report also notes, “Regardless of whether they use the new or old formula, constitutionally the state is required to match inflation, currently in the 2.3% range, per Amendment 23. This would increase the base per pupil funding to $8,692 for the 2025-26 school year. Given the current state budget shortfall, it is very unlikely that they will add anything more than the required minimum.”
The report also explains that the SFA reduces the number of averaging years from five down to four, but that Gov. Jared Polis has proposed all averaging be removed from the formula.
“In its place, only the current year student count would be used. This would save the state approximately $191 million, but many districts across the state would see reduced funding,” Burt’s report states.
Burt notes in his report that with ASD’s current enrollment trend, the district could see a reduction in total funding of approximately $440,000 for the 2025-2026 school year, “if averaging is removed from the formula.”
Superintendent contract
During the same meeting, the BOE entered into an executive session for the purpose of evaluating and discussing Holt’s contract renewal.
The executive session lasted approximately an hour before the BOE returned, with board president Bob Lynch indicating that “only due to technical issues” a special meeting is scheduled for Thursday, March 13, at the district’s administration building to finish Holt’s evaluation.
“There’s nothing but technical glitches going on,” he said, noting the executive session was recorded.
clayton@pagosasun.com
