Merrimack Valley schools turn to trust funds to cover $1.1 million budget shortfall
Published: 10-08-2024 12:21 PM
Modified: 10-09-2024 12:30 PM |
The Merrimack Valley School Board voted Monday to transfer approximately $1.1 million from two trust funds to cover gaps in special education and capital improvement expenses that have arisen since voters approved the district’s $48.3 million budget last spring.
The board moved approximately $500,000 from its special education expendable trust and $575,000 from its maintenance expendable trust. The transfers allow the district to cover its budget gaps without calling a special meeting to raise additional funds from residents.
Amid rising special education expenses across the state, Merrimack Valley’s spending in the category was projected to outpace the nearly $9 million allocated. The cost increases were driven by out-of-district tuition and transportation, district administrators said.
School districts begin projecting their expenses for the subsequent year as early as the previous October, which can be hard to pin down when students come and go.
“If we had let’s say two students move into the district that ended up needing out-of-district placement, out-of-district placement is anywhere from $120,000 to $150,000, so you can see how that would be a budget buster right off the bat,” superintendent Randy Wormald said.
The transfer leaves the special education trust virtually empty, with just $33,000 remaining.
Wormald said the district recently hired an employee to review its special education spending with the goal of bringing it down and preventing a repeat of this year’s under-projection.
“We’re looking at our existing programming to really dig into some of those costs and doing that now as opposed to having to be reactive,” Wormald said. “So we’re hoping that by really maximizing what we have here in the district that we can control those costs better than we have in the past.”
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The trust expenditure – from the maintenance expendable trust – came after the district spent a total of approximately $900,000 over the previous year to renovate its track and redo the Penacook Elementary School roof.
“I know it’s a lot of money, but we are a pretty good-sized district,” facilities director Fred Reagan said. “We’re not wasting any of your money here. We’re using it pretty good.”
Over the coming year, the maintenance team plans to replace a scoreboard, install a fence in the area of its maintenance barn, and redo its field hockey field.
Wormald said that while the district doesn’t like to routinely draw from its trust funds, they exist for a reason.
“Both trusts are specifically set aside exactly for this purpose,” he said. “They’re to ensure that the district can continue to provide the essential services, maintain facilities, improve facilities as things go without impacting current educational programming or operations. These funds were established to handle and smooth out the ups and downs that can sometimes occur.”
The district will seek to replenish its funds during the next budget cycle.
Jeremy Margolis can be contacted at jmargolis@cmonitor.com.