CSD kicks off 2023-24 budget process

The Camas School District (CSD) kicked off its 2023-24 budget process this month, but CSD Director of Business Services Jasen McEathron told Camas School Board members on Monday, Jan. 23, that a plan to hold cost growth to 2% may be tough amid historic inflation, "We have a plan, we are committed to the plan, we are executing the plan," McEathron stated in his Jan. 23 update to the Camas School Board. That plan, McEathron said, includes implementing budget cuts in 2023-24 and containing costs "to prevent future costs from outpacing revenues." Historic inflation, however, could stymie the school district's cost-containment plans, McEathron cautioned after Camas School Board President Corey McEnry asked Monday about the district's plan to limit its expense growth rate to 2% in 2023-24. "I think that's going to be very challenging given this historic inflation period we've been going through. It's going to be a higher number than 2 (percent)," McEathron said Monday, noting that the implicit price deflator (IPD), which gauges inflation, is currently at 5.5%. "Back when we did our (four-year budget projections) there was speculation of inflation, but certainly not 12 months of what we've seen. That was unusual." Four-year budget projections presented to the school board in 2022 showed CSD will likely need to use a combination of fund balance reserves, cost containments and budget cuts to make up for revenue shortfalls between the 2022 and 2026. The school board has discussed holding expenditure growth to 2% in 2023-24 and to 1% in 2024-25 and 2025-26; limiting the use of its general fund balance to $1.2 million in 2023-24, $1 million in 2024-25 and $100,000 in 2025-26; and making budget cuts in 2023-24. Board member Connie Hennessey said this week that the school board is "going to have to make some really tough decisions" later this year, during its 2023-24 budget discussions, but added that she was encouraged by a recent budget committee meeting. "Everybody was really digging in and asking tough questions," Hennessey said. The school district also will negotiate contracts with four different unions this year, including the Camas Education Association, which represents the district's teachers; the Camas Association of Education Office Professionals representing secretaries; the Public School Employees of Camas union representing the district's classified staff; and the Camas Association of Principals. Enrollment slowdown driving revenue shortfall The school district's 2022-23 budget included $140.8 million in expenditures, including $119.1 million for the district's general fund -- 88% of which pays the salaries and benefits of the district's 478.5 full-time equivalent (FTE) certificated staff and 286.5 FTE classified staff, which includes bus drivers, janitors and food service workers. The school board agreed to use $5.8 million from the district's $18 million fund balance to help offset a revenue gap and avoid budget cuts in 2022-23, but said it wanted to rely less heavily on its fund balance during the 2023-24, 2024-25 and 2025-26 school years. In 2022, the district's budget committee, which includes union representatives, school board liaisons, community members and representatives from the Camas Boosters, Camas Educational Foundation and parent-teacher associations, suggested the board try to keep 10 percent of its budget in its reserves and not drop below an 8% fund balance. In the model preferred by the majority of the board during its budget discussions in 2022, the district would use $2 million from its fund balance in 2023-24, $1.1 million in 2024-25 and none in 2025-26, leaving the district with $10 million - a little more than 8 percent of its total budget - in its reserves by the end of the four-year budget period. The board has said the district will still need to reign in costs over the next four years, including holding costs to 2% in 2023-24 and to 1% in 2024-25. Even with those cost containment measures, the district is still facing budget cuts in 2023-24, due to a decline in its once-burgeoning enrollment rates. "We are approaching this new age for the Camas School District," McEathron told the board in April 2022. "Enrollment is the single biggest thing that drives our funding ... We were experiencing 2.5 percent growth before the (COVID-19) pandemic. Now we're forecasting pretty modest growth over the course of the next four years." An enrollment forecast shows CSD's student enrollment is expected to grow again, but much slower than in the pre-pandemic years. Though the pandemic caused some Camas families to withdraw their students from public schools, McEathron said in 2022, that other, non-pandemic-related factors were also influencing the enrollment slowdown. "Birth rates are down and the cost of housing in Camas is very expensive," McEathron told the school board in April 2022. "So we cannot expect to see 2.5 percent growth. We were already on a pathway for enrollment to slow down, and that was going to change our revenue curve." Because state education funding is so heavily tied to a district's student enrollment numbers, the enrollment slowdown means CSD faces revenue shortfalls over the next few years. As of Jan. 15, the district had a total of 7,111 students enrolled in its schools and online Camas Connect Academy. Board will interview for Doug Quinn's replacement on Monday, Feb. 13 In other CSD news, McEnry said Monday that the Board is one step closer to replacing former board member Doug Quinn, who resigned in December 2022, after being named Camas' new city administrator. McEnry said the district received three completed applications for the District 4 seat vacancy. The Board will interview the three applicants during a special meeting on Monday, Feb. 13, in the Dennison Boardroom at the Zellerbach Administration Center, 841 N.E. 22nd Ave., Camas. The person who fills Quinn's vacant Board seat will serve through the end of 2023. The Board also is resuming its opportunities for staff and community memers to meet with board members in-person. The public will have a chance to meet with board members and ask questions from 9 to 11 a.m. Saturday, Feb. 4, at the Zellerbach Administration Center, 841 N.E. 22nd Ave., Camas.

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