COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KOAA) — As the start of the new school year quickly approaches, local school districts, including District 11, are faced with the challenge of reevaluating their budgets due to an unexpected freeze on some federal funding.
District 11 Superintendent Michael Gaal expressed the district's commitment to minimizing the impact of these changes on students.
He said, "It's really an all-hands-on-deck partnership with the Colorado Department of Education to ensure that we're having minimal impact on children when budgetary decisions change after budgets are passed."
The freeze could remove nearly $3.5 million from the D11 budget.
It is a significant amount that supports programs Gaal refers to as “critical.”
Examples include programs aimed at assisting low-income families, providing English as a Second Language instruction, and facilitating professional development for teachers.
"It's our job to figure out how to fill the difference in what the Feds may or may not release. That number changes literally daily," said Gaal.
Gaal wants the number crunching to stay within staff at the administration building and the focus in classrooms remaining on his objective of great teachers with strong lesson plans.
"Students just want to make sure that the teacher that they thought they were going to have shows up on day one. And that's our goal."
While the funding freeze is a concern, it important to note that for District 11, it is less than 1 percent of the overall $450 million budget.
Approximately 90 percent of the district's funding comes from local and state sources.
This allows for some short-term adjustments.
"Those are dollar figures that we think we can manage internally, especially since the state is making carryover dollars available, which are some of the reserves and contingencies that they carry," said Gaal.
He adds a caution.
“Now, if the Feds decide to go in a different direction for the long term, then we’re going to have to have some harder conversations as we build the budget for the following school year.”
District 11 reevaluates its budget monthly and the freeze adds an additional layer to the discussion.
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