COLORADO SPRINGS – Colorado Springs School District 11 is facing some major budget cuts in response to a significant drop in student enrollment.
The school board met Thursday night where they laid out all the numbers.
The district is down about a thousand students this year and they’re projected to lose another 700 next year.
That means they’ll have to cut $10 million out of next year’s budget.
The district attributes the drop in enrollment to factors like higher rent and mortgage rates forcing people to move out of the district.
They also believe competition from charter schools could play a role.
The board is looking into eliminating any open job postings before they cut current employees.
“The last resort that the board wants to look at is trimming people from the budget but with 85-percent of our general fund budget relying on salaries, it’s very hard to do from the operations side,” said Devra Ashby, a spokesperson for D-11.
“But we do our best and again, the board has that final vote.”
Voters approved a mill levy override back in 2017 to guarantee the district $42 million, but that isn’t part of the budget.
Instead, it goes toward specific security, infrastructure, and tech enhancements.
Once the board adopts its final budget in early May or June, we will find out specifically about those cuts.
